*Christian Mistress - Possession. 2015 Relapse (LP) (2012). Christian Mistress was recommended to me by a like minded friend when it comes to heavy metal. That of the early days, where melody, harmony, and odd structural design was more the norm than the exception. I had some trade credit so I grabbed a couple of LPs by the band. They hail from the capital of Washington state, and their vocalist is female, recalling the days of Ann Boleyn and Betsy Bitch. Her singing approach is old school hard rock, nothing odd or twisty to favor attention. The metal tones are straight out of the 1982 cassette culture, bordering hard rock, and the twin soloing is a cut above. Even the multiple black and white photos of the band point to an earlier era, that of silly rebellion. It's been a long while since I last heard my Corsair CDs, but I'm thinking there's some parallels here. The metal heads that run What's Left tell me "yea, they're pretty cheesy". So I guess that's where I land these days on the metal scale: Cheesy. Haha, oh well, I did inform them about the new Coroner, so maybe my street cred isn't completely shot. Yet. (12/6)
*Black Flag - My War. 1984 SST (LP). Found this at one of those clueless chains that sells used records for random prices, usually on the high side. In this case it's apparent they thought it was a lower grade reissue, and priced it at $10. Nope. 100% original press. I knew it the minute I saw it. Mine now. :-) I have very little experience with Black Flag, having obtained a couple of their reissue LPs (ironically) over six years ago at an estate sale. I didn't really give them that much of a shot, and moved them out for a tidy profit. But I still remember reading in Metal Forces in the 1980's that Black Flag were different from your garden variety punk band. Punk is not usually my style of choice. This title in particular sounded like something I might enjoy. Yea, this one is very different for sure. It's two different sides, one high energy punk influenced, the other a slow driving metal sound. Similar to Saint Vitus in that way, though it's not Sabbath like really. The first side is also very entertaining and the musicianship is far more interesting than the punk label allows for, especially Greg Ginn's guitar work. While listening to this, I researched the band and learned quite a bit about them. Their inconsistency is what sunk them initially (among other issues like constantly evolving band mates), though that's part of their legacy today. My War is way too interesting to let go, and I'm sure I'll appreciate it more as time goes on. Plus the origin story of my acquisition is priceless. I'll probably put together a page at some point once I gather some more of their albums for a more proper perspective. (12/3)
* - keeping for the collection
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