Cvlt Nation Presents : the Misfits' "Walk Among Us"

 Here is another installment of Cvlt Nation Presents. In the past they have given bands the opportunity to tackle other classics by bands like Bathory, Black Sabbath, Joy Division and Black Flag. Here the Misfits are paid tribute. An album like "Walk Among Us" I grew up with so not only know the songs like the back of my hand , but just as attached to them. The more sung portions of "20 Eyes" are better than the more screamed hardcore of "Hellkeeper". The vocals for Wraith's cover of "I Turned Into a Martian"gruff but a closer step in the direction of the original. The play a very streamlined yet raw version of hard core. Paranoid has a more manic and blow on out version of "All Hell Breaks Loose". True Love starts off with an more industrial pounding before throwing themselves into a lo-fi black metal take on "Vampira" . I guess they get props for staying true to who they are , but the essence of the song gets lost in translation.

The vocals seem to be the sticking point when it comes to most of these bands. It's not like they are being asked to sing something with a croon as demanding as "Mother". Bleach Birth lashes their way thru a rowdy swing at "Nike A Go-Go" . This is still better than Casket Huffer's butchery of "Hatebreeders" . The production quality of this is so lo-fi the notes of the guitar are just garbled shards of distortion under the gurgled death metal vocals. The blackened blitz of "Mommy Can I Go Out and Kill Tonight" suffers from much of the same problems many of the other songs do . Punk rock was always a rawer and angry take on rock, but The Misfits could play there instruments. Glenn could sing, but it's not like you are being asked to replicate Iron Maiden, punk rock is pretty easy to capture and maintain the integrity of the songs. Bleach Birth does better with "Night of the Living Dead". You can still hear the skeleton of the original, which is all I am asking for.

Beastmaker's version of 'Skulls" is the best song yet. They show you how it's done.They still managed to be true to who they are as a band. Then we are back to more feral attack this time from Black Tomb who at least gets the guitar parts right. Bleach Birth is back once again with "Devil's Whorehouse" it's another decent take even with the vocals that are more screamed than sung. I have not been impressed by what I have heard from Dreadlords in the past so I was curious if they could change my mind here. Not really the vocals sound like Nick Cave if he was 80 years old and out of breath trying to sing this. Musically they are a little rough as well, but come closer to getting the notes right. The vocals are not really in key so that makes it hard for me. I need you to sing in key if you are going to sing. False Light closes things out with "Brain eaters' which is almost more of a grind core take on it.I'll give this a 6, the Beastmaker was hands down the best moment, but there are other interesting covers , if you like punk that is on the more lo-fi and raw side then you might be less picky than me on some of these tracks.

True Love : " Heaven's Too Good For Us"

This hard core band from Detroit is pretty straight forward in their approach to hard-core. The vocals are barked like most band's of this ilk. The only edge they have aside from the straight one is the fact they know how to write songs. I could just be in an angry hard-core mood, but the second song is pretty fucking good. The third song "Out in the Streets" is a little more run of the mill with the obligatory gang vocal chiming in. "Kill For That" finds the uniformity beginning to set in.They speed things up into a tighter chug for the 39 second"Midnight People" which never gets a chance to turn into a song. "Young to Die " is moodier but still pretty quick to dismiss itself.

The best under a minute song from these guys is "Where it Ends". "Chained Melody" plays by the rules of conventional hard core and doesn't do anything you haven't heard before a hundred times since the mid-80s. You can hear the rock influence on "the One and Only" it gives the song more of a hook in the riffing. "Meant to Take" is heavier and eventually finds a groove, but I would not say it's the album's most thoughtfully written song. There is a metallic edge to many of these riffs and the attack of "Stay True" is no exception. It reminds me of some of the cross-hardcore I used to listen to in 80s. The vocals are little more varied.

Overall this is very solid for what it is, however it is a little too straight forward for me. There is a very urban feel to the album and I like the metallic drive combined with the thought they put into the riffs rather than just one, two, three, go... style of hardcore. I'll give this a 7.5, since I don't see my self returning to this album more than once or twice.

Cvlt Nation Sessions : Bathory's s/t Debut

Once again my other blog family Cvlt Nation is releasing a tribute album to offer a different look at an old classic, this time around it's the self titled debut from Bathory .  As you might guess I am going to continue to review these with an impartial ear. To be honest, while I appreciate the historic nature of this album, the first album from Bathory is not  my favorite it's too close to punk and the production sucks. This is what makes it appeal to punks crossing over into metal. For my money Bathory did not get good until Quorthon who originally got his start in an oi! band started getting more metal and breaking out the epic Viking hymns on "Hammerheart" . In fact it had been so long since I listened to the first Bathory album that I went and pulled it up so I could do an a/b these songs against the originals. These bands have better production value than what was going on when this album originally recorded. Grave Coven gives "Hades" more of a death metal touch. You are still reminded to how similar Bathory and early Slayer are in my respects. There are still hints of early thrash in the original version of the "Reaper", Plagues clearly comes from more of a grinding hard core back ground gives "Reaper' a little rougher beating.

 One case where the original version is improved upon would be True Love's take on "Necromansy" which is slowed to achieve something that is darker and feels more sinister than the original. Expander and Worsen offer pretty straight forward versions of the more feral songs "Sacrifice" and "In Conspiracy with Satan" to remind us of black metal's thrash roots. After True Love the next best performance might be Morast's slaying of "Armageddon". It's very deliberate and powerful. Ultha goes full blasty mcnasty on "Raise the Dead", if this was an original it might not be half bad , but it takes some of charm out of the chorus at this pace. Things stay raw and nasty for Fever Nest's version of "War'.  While this is rawer than some of the other songs, the production value is overall pretty solid on all of these songs. Bathory fans will find this a worthwhile listen and a free downloaded version is available on Cvlt Nation's Bandcamp page. I'll give this an 8.5. Which might be a tad higher than what I would rate the original version.