Pick of the month:
MIDNIGHT IDOLS - "Nightrulers"
SAINT VITUS were one of the pioneers of doom metal in the 80's. In 1986 singer/guitarist Scott "Wino" Weinrich (no introduction needed I guess) joined them for three records: "Born Too Late", "Mournful Cries" and "V", reviewed here. In 2003 the classic line-up of Wino, Dave Chandler, Mark Adams, and Armando Acosta reformed for two shows. Reason enough for doom label Southern Lord to reissue and repackage the classic "V" album.
It's surprising how fresh this record sounds nowadays. I have to confess that back in 1989 when it was released I had some difficulty getting into it. I did like it, but this young headbanger, then mostly into thrash metal and raised on a steady diet of flashy guitar leads, double bass drum antics and other excesses couldn't help finding VITUS' minimalist approach somewhat weird. While bands like TROUBLE and CANDLEMASS had enough doodling on the side to keep the average Joe Headbanger happy, SAINT VITUS kept their SABBATH riffage as raw and basic as possible, with stunted rhythms and weird, noisy leads. A lot of critics dismissed 'em as just another SABBATH rip-off , which is not entirely fair because they did have a sound uniquely their own. At times they even sound remarkably like a very slow punk band.
Bands like KHANATE and FISTULA may be unsurpassable in their ultra-heaviness (and of course we all love 'em for it), but none of them sound as genuinely dark as SAINT VITUS. This is best demonstrated by the acoustic and very chilling "When Emotion Dies". And then of course there's the classic tracks like "I Bleed Black" and "Angry Man" (yeah!), although my personal favorites are the ultra-slow and long tracks "Patra (Petra)" and "Jack Frost". You think gothic is dark music? Guess again!
As far as I can tell there has been no remastering done (which is good, the dry guitar tone is nice) but it does contain some bonus video footage of Wino's first show in 1986. Great stuff...you know you want to buy this anyway, don't you? Go to the Southern Lord site at the link above and grab a copy!
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