various artists - Cicadas: An Electric Guide to the Greek Underground. 1987 Greece

Such an odd album to find in an American record store's dollar bin (right here in the Springs). This is a compilation of 6 bands, providing one track on each side for a total of 12. The opener is from Blue Light, and they're the outlier of the bunch. The compilation is geared towards neo psych and garage, but Blue Light are more pure 80s sounding. So a strange choice as an opener and a bit off-putting. No Man's Land gets the comp on the rails and provides one of the best neo psych tracks here with 'Blue Train' (a popular color apparently). Human Grape is the most underground sounding band here, not shy about cranking up the fuzz. Other bands of great interest are The Mushrooms and Villa 21. Side 1 contains stronger material, but overall a fine set of tunes. The music is mostly straightforward with little subtlety and sophistication. Perfect for a compilation of a burgeoning scene. Album contains a biography of each band - but it's all Greek to me as the expression goes. Some of these bands have only a couple of very obscure releases while others appear to be more well known back in Greece. This one is a keeper.

Ownership: LP: 1987 Pegasus. Single sleeve. Acquired as noted above (2023).

3/9/23 (LP 4.12); 4/12/23 (new entry)

Stromboli. 1987 Czech Republic

I've owned this album in continuous fashion for over 30 years, and it's been categorized in just about every genre I collect. Is it prog? psych? jazz fusion? X-wave? The answer is yes. 

There were a lot of unique bands operating in the Czech Republic prior to - and after - the fall of Communism. By the late 80s the Authorities had pretty much given up, and then the Velvet Revolution finished them off. And this unusual sociological blend lead to a music scene that had no peer before or since. Other groups such as The MCH Band, Prazsky Vyber, Dunaj, Aku Aku, and Uz Jsme Doma were trailblazing a path that defies typecasting. I'm not sure how one can copy music like this. It's its own thing as they say. Of these, Stromboli's sprawling double album may be the best representative, even though the competition is fierce. There are heavy psych guitar solos juxtaposed against female New Wave styled vocals. Complex proggy structures sits inside jazz fusion numbers. Vocals are in Czech, and I wouldn't want it any other way. This is the next generation of the greats like Flamengo and Jazz Q. Curious? Listen for yourself. You'll be surprised at how fast the hour and a half goes by.

Ownership: CD: 1995 Bonton. 2xCD with photos and notes in Czech. It's a straight reissue as all of these features were part of the LP. I'm glad they stuck with a double CD rather than try to trim off 10 minutes here and there. As noted above, the first copy I owned was sent to me in 1990 - along with many other Eastern European albums - by a long time friend in Florida who I still keep up with on occasion. As I will often state, albums from that part of the world were meant to be on CD. No matter what version you would like, the album remains easily obtainable in both formats, as it was repressed many times.

12//14; 8/19/22 (new entry)

Trouble - Run to the Light. 1987 USA-Illinois

Trouble's 3rd album is very similar to the two efforts prior. There's more guest keyboards, and the pace is faster than your prototypical doom metal band, but essentially this is classic Trouble. Bone crushing riffs, and impassioned Christian vocals. Though concerning the latter, you have to study the lyrics to know that, it's not preachy in the slightest. This is where I get off the Trouble train. I've owned all their other works after this, but they're not to my taste, as they altered their sound.

Ownership: LP: 1987 Metal Blade. Single sleeve with lyric and merchandise inserts. Online acquisition from late last year. Similar story to the first album, in that I had my hand on this title to buy a few times, only to leave it back. I owned The Skull real time, but it didn't wow me enough to pursue the others further. I regretted that decision later, and now I'm paying for it. I found the first one at a Denver record store, but it wasn't cheap (but still a good deal). This one cost the exact same, but it was online, and what the heck, might as well snag it (perfect mint too). Won't likely ever find it in the wilds cheap. If I do, great, we can resell it....

new entry

Spectral Incursion - Anthology. 1986-2010. USA-Massachusetts

And the hits keep on coming. Add Boston's Spectral Incursion to the ever growing list of unknown late 80s American metal bands that were pushing the creative envelope beyond its wildest dreams. Originally known as Graven Image, Anthology captures every song the band ever released + unreleased demos and newly recorded material. Like Slauter Xstroyes, the music is not particularly heavy, but it certainly belongs to metal. And the songwriting is as random and nutty as the aforementioned SX. In fact, I think their earlier material when they were still Graven Image may have been their peak, at least in terms of creativity. But by 1991, the band were clearly a honed in professional unit. It's a tragedy they never could get past the private cassette stage. If tech thrash, or what we used to call technical metal, is your bag then Spectral Incursion is an easy recommendation. File along with first album Sieges Even, Watchtower, and the rest of them.

Ownership: CD: 2011 Stormspell. Recent online acquisition. Great 2 CD set chock full of liner notes and music you aren't going to find anywhere else. Originally released as a numbered edition of 500 copies, the label apparently went for a repress, as my copy is not numbered, nor is there space to place a number. As such, the CD is still readily available. I can't imagine that always being the case, so grab it while you can.

Voivod - Killing Technology. 1987 Canada-Quebec

My introduction to Voivod was the Rrroooaaarrr album real time in 1986. I thought it was terrible and couldn't understand the buzz the band was receiving back then. Subsequently I ignored the group, despite continuing rave reviews, until I walked into a local Dallas record store in late 1989 and their new album Nothingface had just been released. The store owner convinced me to buy it, saying it wasn't anything like what I'd heard from the band prior. Boy, was he right. I thought it was great (still do), and that's a story for another day. But what of the albums in between? Surprisingly, even to this day, I've never heard Dimension Hatross. I'll get to it (I think I've been saying that for 30 years now...). But it wasn't long after the event above, that a friend played me Killing Technology. I wasn't moved. I thought it to be noisy. For whatever reason, I've had a few opportunities to retry this album, but it just never captured my imagination. Now our local b&m has it on their wall from a recent metal buy, and shoot, I'm going to get it. It wasn't cheap of course, but I felt maybe if I owned/invested-in the LP and just focused on it intently, my opinion would soften.

And it was a solid premise that came through for me. It's still not my favorite type of thrash metal - and it is noisy. I think part of the issue I had was the date itself. 1987 is awfully late for this kind of post punky scratchy thrash with screamed vocals. I wanted some muscle in my music! Killing Technology is not heavy in my opinion. But it's definitely still thrash metal. Metallica was already on their 4th opus, and continuing to progress - at least technically. On close listen, Voivod is also technical, but it's lost in the barrage of sound. But I have to give Voivod credit - they just keep coming at you. This album is relentless in its riffing. There are no breathers here. They're going for broke for the entire 40 minutes. I hadn't really given this much thought before, but there are parallels here with the first Coroner album, another band that was a little late to the party, but improved exponentially in a short period of time. I could see this album growing in stature for me, now that I have my mind adjusted to the contents within. Gee, I really need to hear Dimension Hatross sometime...

Ownership: LP: 1987 Combat / Noise (USA). Single sleeve with lyric insert. Recent acquisition as noted above.

Dream Death - Journey Into Mystery. 1987 USA-Pennsylvania

Much like the Gaskin album I recently posted about, Dream Death's name came about while researching top metal bands of the 80s. Now by 1987 it was much tougher to keep up with all the newer bands, but I was still trying. But I missed Pittsburgh's Dream Death, that's for sure. They were on New Renaissance, so for certain they were getting press. In any case, here's how Dream Death is summarily described: Doom Thrash. Now there's an oxymoron if I ever saw one. But ya know, after hearing Journey Into Mystery, doom thrash it is! It's a very strange sound they have going here. It's one part Celtic Frost (especially the vocals and overall muddy atmosphere) and one part Trouble. It's a fascinating blend, and it's definitely the kind of kvlt music that lingers long past its natural life. I've heard good things about their 2013 reunion album. May need to investigate that as well.

Ownership: LP: 2017 High Roller (Germany). Recent online acquisition. Single sleeve. Clear vinyl. Very nice reissue with a full color poster of the album cover plus the original lyric inner sleeve. No liners though. Originals aren't terribly expensive if in the market for one.

Taramis - Queen of Thieves. 1987 Australia

I recently posted about Taramis' second album Stretch of the Imagination. That reminded me to seek out the debut. I had read that Queen of Thieves was more like Iron Maiden and far less complex than their sophomore effort. But I didn't find that to be the case. This is certainly in line with some of the other crazy progressive thrash bands hovering about in the late 80s. One never knows where the music will take you next. Yet another solid album from downunda. Pity they stopped when they did. 

Ownership: LP: 1988 Metal Blade (USA). Recent online acquisition. Sealed no less. And surprisingly not expensive. Single sleeve with quite the eye catching cover.

Slauter Xstroyes - Free the Beast. 1987 USA (archival)

Slauter Xstroyes were a metal band from Chicago that toiled in the 80s underground for a few years before dissipating into the wilds. Free the Beast is an archival recording made up of primarily what was to be their second album in 1987. In addition to the 33 minutes of quality studio material, the album is doubled in length with demo's going back as far as 1981. The metal music on display here is highly inventive, at the earliest days of what would be later known as prog metal, but much rawer and authentic than that tag usually implies. SX (as they were often referred as) were created from the same cloth as Fates Warning, Brocas Helm, Manilla Road, and others who were adding unique elements to a traditional metal sound. The riffs are crunching, and meter shifts are exciting and natural. This is the kind of music that takes many listens to absorb. John Stewart's screaming vocals will break glass, while Brent Sullivan's bass work predates John Myung's jazz fusion style. Somewhere between 70s Judas Priest, Iron Maiden, Fates Warning, Helstar, Mercyful Fate, and even Watchtower, one will find the sound of Slauter Xstroyes. Superb.

An interesting side note, for me at least, is that I never even heard of this band back in the 1980s. Now I'm sure that might seem obvious on first glance, except I had a voracious appetite for metal in the middle 80s while still in college, and I was reading every English language magazine I could get my hands on back then (Metal Forces, Kerrang, and any cheap looking rag). Even bands like Sacred Blade hit my radar. But not Slauter Xstroyes. And sure enough, apparently the only media coverage the band received was from the Dutch mag Aardschok. I mention it, because Free the Beast (and presumably their debut Winter Kill, though I have yet to hear it) is exactly the type of metal I was looking for. I was tired of the norm, and bands like Fates Warning were much more interesting to me. The exciting aspect about it for a collector like me is that there were others just like SX back in the day, and they have been (or probably will be) exposed.

Personal collection

CD: 2009 Forged in Fire/Rockadrome

The CD on Forged in Fire (Rockadrome - Monster V 2.0) is awesome, with great sound, a history, and two lengthy interviews from the founding band members that are very insightful.

Praxis - La Eternidad de lo Efimero. 1987 Mexico

Praxis' sole work is a solid instrumental progressive rock album from Mexico. The primary composer, Ricardo Moreno, is the same keyboardist behind Iconoclasta and the music is remarkably similar - especially the Iconoclasta albums that came after Praxis. One reason for this is that Praxis' guitarist Hector Hernandez joined Iconoclasta not long after. The other is that Praxis had eschewed the local regional Latin American influences - as did Iconoclasta in their later years. The album's faults lie in the muddy Third World sounding 1980s production, and the lack of variety in tone - especially considering the rather cheap sounding synthesizers. But the charms outweigh the negatives here. A finely crafted album, that I'm sure today would sound fantastic, especially if afforded a room full of analog gear.

CD: 1994 Mellow (Italy). The CD is a straight reissue with good sound and nice historical liner notes. You really have to be a vinyl-only junkie to not want the CD for this title.

CD removed from collection (2022).

10/16/15 (new entry); 6/8/22

Outer Limits - The Scene of Pale Blue. 1987 Japan

The CD version starts off in that typical brash, digital 1980s way the Japanese are famous for. I was beginning to question why I liked this album at all, as many of those 1980s Japanese prog bands have fallen into the sell bin over the years. Ah, but 'Marionette's Lament' is from a single, and not the LP proper.

 
Once we get to 'Mixer', we are off and running with The Scene of Pale Blue. And on this LP, verse their earlier stunted works, Outer Limits provides us with plenty of long exploratory instrumental parts. And a willingness to break out the old equipment, like the mellotron for example, which was still unusual in those days. Some of the heavy angular guitar / counterpoint parts recall mid-70s King Crimson. Lead violin and old school rhythm guitar flesh out the sound nicely. Unfortunately the band brought back the silly low singing voice on 'Anti Podean' and those sections have to be considered a lowlight. A fine album from the late 80s Japanese symphonic progressive scene.

Oh, and the CD also includes the fine 8+ minute fusion-oriented bonus track 'Pteridophyte' taken from the 1990 Made in Japan compilation called Out of Works. I would consider this track essential listening.

Ownership: CD: 1999 Musea (France). Jewel box release with bonus tracks as noted above.

My first copy was the LP purchased in 1990.

1990; 4//06 (review); 7/21/15 (new entry)

Iconoclasta - Suite Mexicana + Soliloquio. 1987 Mexico

Iconoclasta were probably Mexico's #1 progressive rock export in the 1980s and a big part of the style's revival in that country. The EP was released three months ahead of the LP proper, and features traditional instruments and melodies among the usual rock instrumentation. I would like to call out guitarist Ricardo Ortegon, who puts in an exceptional performance on both these albums. '7:19' adds flute with fine results. There's also the requisite "side long" track that allows the instrumentalists to shine with longer solo sections, including guest saxophone. Iconoclastic has a distinct 80s compressed sound, that is all their own.

Ownership: CD: 1991 Art Sublime. The label was a pioneer of the LP-jacket-CD release. This is a concept that never caught on, and that's a pity. While I love the Japanese mini-LP, which is a perfect miniature of the original LP - these LP jacket reissues were the real thing, but with a specially made insert that cradled the CD. Sort of the difference between O Gauge and HO I guess. If you wanted the CD for car/portable use, you could always stick it in a slim case, or any generic sleeve. Other than close partner Syn-Phonic, no one else gave the format much notice, and the concept seems to have gone extinct. The Art Sublime CD also comes with a nice full sized 2 page (front and back) foldout insert, with a lengthy discussion around the LP sized jacket (in English and Spanish). Also features a beautiful black and white surreal sketching. The gatefold inner features the original cover art for Suite Mexicana as well as a brief history of the band (also in English and Spanish). My first exposure to the album came from the LP purchased near the time of release (1988). The CD is the clear winner in this case.

1988; 6/21/10 (new entry); 10/14/23