Want List Full Of Metal

The Chromium Dioxide channel over on Youtube recently posted a video on the dangers of drinking and eBaying. It was a fantastic celebration of poor decisions and impulse spending for records, and I wanted a piece of that action. My Top Wants list for 2021 was staring me in the face, and I wanted to ignore price tags and see what kind of trouble I could get into. I don't need alcohol to influence me into doing some damage when record shopping.

The Fistful Of Metal album from Anthrax has been near the top of my want list for more years than I'd care to mention. I went nuts over those silver Megaforce labels for a while, but it has been a few years since I've picked one up, so it felt good to get back to it. I didn't end up with a triple digit price tag, so I don't think that I got suckered into spending too much, and this thing is in such great condition, so who fucking cares how much it cost.

Shortly after winning this eBay auction, the seller sent me a message to thank me for the purchase and he mentioned that he was 65 years old and was selling off his collection, listing a few records each weekend. It got me thinking about my own mortality and where I might be at that age. 65 for me is only in another 15 years. What the fuck? I've been doing this blog for 15 years, and to think that in another 15 I might be in a position where I've got to sell my collection kind of fucked me up mentally. Realistically, how long can I keep this up? Am I just wasting time acquiring things that I'm just going to have to eventually sell off. What's the point? Tough questions came to the surface that I fully intend to bury under the purchases of more records.

Raise Hell

These days, I do not expect to get very excited over buying live albums, and most of the time they are easy to just ignore. When I heard that there was a new live Anthrax album up for preorder over at No Remorse Records out of Greece, you would have thought that I would have just shrugged my shoulders in indifference and walked away...yet, I was curious to see which tour this Chile On Hell live album was from, so I thought that I'd give it a little look.

I wasn't aware, but apparently Chile On Hell was originally released on Bluray and DVD back in 2014, capturing the band during their Worship Music/Anthems tour. I had been underwhelmed with the Worship Music album, and never cared about the Anthems cover album, but I was kind of interested to hear the "new" songs live...and once I saw that Night Of The Vinyl Dead was releasing this for the first time on vinyl, I immediately placed my order with little thought paid to the $60 price tag it was going to cost for the album and overseas shipping.

I'm a huge fan of the Night Of The Vinyl Dead label, and they never fail to impress me with the quality of packaging for the records they press. The NOTVD releases are usually unique and limited, and in most cases, you better move quick if you want one...or risk paying top dollar off Discogs or eBay down the road. The two Dio albums that NOTVD did carry ridiculous price tags these days, and it is going to cost me stupid money for the Magica record when I finally make a move for one.

So even though I knew the price paid now was going to be a bit high, I didn't want to risk trying to grab it later, and as soon as it arrived, I knew that I'd made the right choice.

With a nice gatefold sleeve, packaged in a die-cut slipcase cover, this thing looks gorgeous...even the colored vinyl looks great. You can tell that this label puts a lot of care into what they do. Impressive.

Hand numbered out of 700.

The album itself is pretty cool, with a number of Anthrax classics...although there is absolutely zero reason for the band to play I'm The Man live ever again...it was funny back in 1987, but seriously, let it go...and while we are at it, can we talk about dropping Antisocial from the set as well. Still, these two songs aside, this is a solid live album, and it is cool to hear some of the newer songs along side older classics that I was excited to see listed here, like In My World and Medusa. Solid.

Vice Of Black Friday

In addition to the Iron Maiden record that was being released on Black Friday, Anthrax also pushed out a 7 inch single for the song A Monster At The End, from their newest album, For All Kings.

After slagging the new Anthrax album for a couple of months, I had a change of heart when I really sat down and gave it an honest listen. It grew on me, and really surprised me with how strong it actually was. By the years end, I may be rating it higher than the new Metallica...which is a total shocker.

Had I not already been in the record store for the new Iron Maiden vinyl, I probably wouldn't have given the Anthrax single much of a thought, but I figured "Hell, I'm already here, so I might as well grab it as well". The b-side, Vice Of The People, was an bonus song for the Japanese pressing of For All Kings CD, and it is good to see it released for the rest of the world on this single. Great song.

1,500 pressed for Black Friday Record Store Day.

For All Kings

I don't know what it is with Anthrax, but over the years, I seem to have formed a chip on my shoulder about them. While I enjoy everything up to, and including, We've Come For You All, I somehow still looked down on them with some contempt. Maybe it was because I considered Scott Ian as a bit of a self-important douche, or maybe it was because I felt like Joey Belladonna was a bit of a poser, playing the part of a Thrash frontman, while he often preferred the softer side of Rock. Either way, I thought that their 2011 reunion album, Worship Music, was kind of a disappointment, and even before it was released, I was prepared to write off this years new record as a colossal turd. Hell, I wanted nothing more that to rip it apart...and with my preconceived notions, I was underwhelmed when I first heard For All Kings...and choosing their second single as Breathing Lightning did them no favors.

Still, people across the Metal community were raving about how good For All Kings was. I downloaded it, but I was still stuck in my ways and wouldn't really give it a fair listen. Then I came across a recent interview with Scott Ian, and in speaking about how he handled some choices back in 1990, he owned his decisions. He didn't play it off, or deflect blame...he came out and basically said, "yeah, I was in a bad place at the time, and didn't handle things well". It isn't very often that you find someone, especially in the entertainment industry, that will take responsibility like that...plus he also talked about he has never been a drinker, and that helped sway me too. It was like my Grinch heart grew three sizes that day. With this new found respect, I queued up For All Kings, and tried to go into it with a more open mind. Goddamnit. I found myself enjoying it a bit.

When I saw the vinyl in the record bin at the local store, I was intrigued by the packaging. With plastic wrap keeping everything secure and tight, I couldn't make heads or tails of what was going on with the sleeve. Unable to resist, I bought it.

With the slipcover, the metallic shine on the record cover, the colored vinyl, and the d-side etching...the packaging on this is extremely well done.

The more that I've sat with this album, the more it has grown on me. While I'd initially thought this would hang out at the bottom of my Year End list, at this point, I'm starting to wonder how high it will climb, and if it has a chance to crack my Top 10. Solid album that continues to surprise the hell out of me.

Two In The Bush

I get excited over the dumbest shit.

I get a bit of a charge over listening to stuff that I know the majority of the people love to hate. It's not that I'm doing it out of some kind of misguided rebellion, I genuinely like albums like St. Anger, the self titled Warzone LP, Token Entry's The Weight Of The World, Tony Martin-era Black Sabbath, and Blaze Bayley-era Iron Maiden. But still, hearing people bitch about any one of these albums gives me a devious little twist, and I'll rush to give it a spin and vocalize my appreciation. Hey, don't look down on me like you don't know what I'm talking about, as you try to explain that "no, Staring Into The Sun is actually a really good Uniform Choice album". We all make bad choices, and I'll proudly stand by mine.

So while people get themselves all wound up tight, going along with the crowd and hating all the right albums, I'm sitting here and thinking about making a serious run at collecting them on vinyl for 2016. And here you were thinking that this blog couldn't get any more lame. Surprise! I can sink even lower.

When it comes to Anthrax, most Metal purists tend to only fall in line with the Belladonna years. At some point, the verdict seems to have come down that we are to not speak of those albums that had John Bush at the mic...and while I'll contend that Spreading The Disease and Among The Living are the high point in Anthrax's career, I'm not going to back away from Bush's 10+ year run through the 90's.

Hey, I'll admit, for the longest time, I was in the camp of Belladonna or nothing. How could I not be? I grew up through the 80's...I bought Among The Living, State Of Euphoria and Persistence Of Time all on release day...and there was a time that I would have defended their position in the Big 4. But just because I didn't bother with the Bush-era Anthrax at the time, doesn't mean that I don't appreciate it now.

Fueled by my obsession with Armored Saint last year, I tentatively reached for an old burned CD of Stomp 442 that I had sitting on my shelf. I'd heard it as the butt of jokes for years, and couldn't remember the last time that I'd even bothered to give it a spin. In my Armored Saint mood, I figured that I'd give it a shot, and if I didn't dig it, I could dump that old CDR and make some room on the shelf.

I didn't just like it...it fucking consumed me. I couldn't get enough of this album, and it became a permanent fixture in my daily playlists for December.

I needed to own this on vinyl, but since the world had written off vinyl when Stomp 442 was released back in '95, that meant that only Germany bothered to press the album on wax. Because of this, it meant that it was going to be priced like Martin Shkreli selling AIDS medication. It was not going to come cheap. That's cool though...I found a seller in the Discogs Marketplace that was willing to unload his copy at a reasonable price, and I was a happy man.

Of course the catch in making Stomp 442 a good deal, was that I had to add the John Bush debut with Anthrax to my order to help sweeten the sale for the seller. What, am I going to complain about having to buy two Anthrax albums? Ummm...no.

While Sound Of White Noise wasn't pressed on vinyl in the States back in '93, there were a few countries that kept the vinyl tradition alive at the time. Sure, it saw a recent vinyl repress in '09, but get that shit outta here. It could possibly sound better on the double vinyl repress, but I'm going with the original single LP German pressing. Love the look of that alternate cover art!

One Man's Trash Is Another Man's Treasure

I got a message from Jeff the other week...he had decided to clean out his record collection, getting rid of doubles and stuff that he no longer wanted. He was planning on putting a large number of records up for sale on eBay, but he offered to give me first crack at them. I wasn't sure what I would find, but he gave me a $2.00 price tag on everything, so I was looking forward to a little shopping.

Jeff ended up having lots of Metal up for sale, and I found more records than I was expecting.

• Anthrax : One of the first things I picked out of the pile were these three Anthrax albums...the Armed and Dangerous EP, Spreading the Disease, and Among the Living. I was around 15 years old, and Spreading the Disease was one of the first albums that introduced me to thrash and speed metal. The following year, I specifically remember going to the Mall to buy Among the Living with my friend Bill...sitting outside studying the packaging of the cassette tape, looking at every detail, while we waited for his father to pick us up.
• Black Sabbath - Heaven and Hell : I didn't have Heaven and Hell on vinyl for my Sabbath collection, so I picked it up. Sabbath is currently touring, with Ronnie James Dio back singing for them. Unfortunately the band is unable to use the Sabbath name without Ozzy, so they are using the name Heaven and Hell. Jeff and I are going to Massachusetts in May to catch them live.

  

  Some stuff I picked up because it was in such mint condition, and some stuff I took a chance on.

  • Heathen - Breaking the Silence : I bought this on tape as a teenager. Cassette tapes are a complete waste of space, and this album was in such great condition that I bought it. Listening to this again, I was surprised at how good some of their songs were.
  • Flotsam & Jetsam - Doomsday for the Deceiver : The band that had Jason Newsted as the bassist before he went on to play in Metallica. This album is the bands best. An album that I hadn't really heard for a while, and hearing it again I was reminded just how much fun it is. Great speed metal.
  • Rage - Reign of Fear : I had never heard this album before, but it was one of the early releases on Noise records (which released records from bands like Celtic Frost, Grave Digger, Kreator, etc). The record is alright, at times reminding me of Metal Church...not great, but still entertaining.
  • E-X-E - Stricken by Might : I pulled this out of the pile because of the "Thrash With Class" sticker on the cover. Flipping the album cover over reveals photos of the band members, with the one of the bass player looking "evil" covered in blood...yeah, that must be the class they were advertising. I would have bought it for that alone. The music on the album is a direct attempt at the early Slayer sound. It works for me.

    

    Then there were the records that I was especially thrilled to get. A steal at $2.00 a piece.

    • Danzig : The first and the best. Complete with mint condition gatefold album cover, and gold promo stamp...it doesn't get any more collectible than that. I put the album on Jeff's turn table, and when the needle hit the first note of Twist of Cain, the power of those chords as they roared out of the speakers was so insanely heavy.
    • D.R.I. - Dealing With It : I first owned a copy of this on cassette tape. These days I despise this format, but as a teenager, before the introduction of CDs, I preferred cassettes because they were so convenient. Sure the artwork and liner notes were so small to non-existent, or that they were so fragile that few of my cassettes lasted through my teenage years. I kick myself for wasting my money on tapes, instead of buying vinyl. Anyway, first I owned this on tape, and then bought the CD...now I have the vinyl. Everyone should own at least one copy of this classic.
    • Slayer - South of Heaven : I had seen this Slayer album in Jeff's collection before. I was surprised, because this isn't typically his style of music. I was hoping it was going to be in the pile that he was selling, but it wasn't. I asked him about it and he didn't even know that he owned it. I found it in his collection and he just kind of shrugged his shoulders and sold it to me for $2.00. When this album first came out, I didn't like it too much since it was such a departure from Reign in Blood. Over time, I came to really appreciate this record, and now I would say this is one of my favorites from the band.

      

      Other than the Slayer record, there was one other record that I was hoping Jeff would have up for sale.

      • The Metal Massacre Limited Edition Picture Disc Box Set : I don't expect anyone else to grasp how f'n cool this thing is. Hand stamped as number 90 out of 1000. This box set contains picture discs of the first five Metal Massacre complications on Metal Blade Records. The record label left me in awe as a kid, as I would drool over their ads in Metal magazines...hoping that the local record store would carry some of their stuff. From Metallica and Slayer to Armored Saint and Lizzy Borden to Voivod and Hallows Eve. One of the coolest Heavy Metal record labels from the 80's. This one was all mine for $15.

      There were so many other records that Jeff was selling that I wanted, but at $37 for the lot, I had already spent more than I was planning on. He still had a section of Metal that he had yet to sort through, so I am looking forward to going back and taking more cool shit off his hands.