Cassle ~ USA ~ Los Angeles, California

Cassle (1980-1983 / 2011)

---12/9/14

Archival NWOBHM-styled recordings from the early 1980s. The original EP has some inspired, almost progressive rock influenced (long tracks and keyboards will have that effect), early heavy metal sounds. Good stuff from a band that could have made the big time with the right breaks. An all too common tale from that era.

---10/6/25

The above is accurate, but I need to provide more context. The band only released one track in their lifetime, that of 'Midnight Fantasy' (1983). The quality is demo-like, so you'll have to adjust your ears a bit before taking this in. The next three tracks are from the same session, and have the same sound quality. These were released for the first time in 1997 from an unauthorized issue. One that the band, according to the CD liner notes, were more than fine with as it increased their exposure. The music here is at the crossroads of hard rock and early heavy metal with proggy overtones. Like a 1979 private release. There's piano, hard guitars, and dramatic vocals. Were this a cassette, it would be an instant classic, because music like this was released that way back then. So hearing it on CD sounds strange, but it just requires an adjustment as I noted above. Track 10 is the original 1980 recording of 'Midnight Fantasy' when they were teenagers known as Miraaj (guess they like unique spellings). Track 5 is the only recording from 1982 and is essentially a piano ballad. The other five cuts are studio and live recordings from 1983. These are of bootleg quality and portray the band more in a proggy hard rock / AOR light. As the music rolls on, one can hear Rush as a major influence on the group. It's a pity this was all that could be rescued, as it's clear that Cassle had talent to burn. They likely would have turned into a band like Queensryche had they managed to secure a major label deal, which they apparently were close to. It was the 80s after all.

Ownership: 2011 Shadow Kingdom (CD). Liner notes, lyrics, and photos. Acquired in 2014.

11/26/11; 12/9/14 (review); 10/6/25 (update / new entry)

Witch Blade ~ Sweden

Månsken (2022)

For whatever reason, I'm finding more and more new LPs at deep discounts at record stores here in Colorado. To me it does signal that the LP boom of the last decade, and especially the pandemic, has subsided. That generation has now grown up and have other responsibilities. So those of us who hopelessly never stopped collecting vinyl can scoop them up for cheap. And then probably get stuck with them for the rest of our lives... But does it matter?

With that prelude out of the way, what does Witch Blade musically bring to the table? Old fashioned early 80s styled heavy metal. At that point where hard rock bands were adding muscle and some fantasy themes. Oftentimes proggy in nature but not compositionally so. A non British NWOBHM as it were. The other endearing aspect of Witch Blade is the group sings defiantly in their native Swedish. And they make a big deal out of that. I love native languages in music, so sign me up. Don't expect too much here. Eight solid workmanlike tracks, all easy on the ears if you are familiar with the NWOBHM style.

Witch Blade takes me back to an exciting time in the late 80s and early 90s when new vinyl LPs were coming out with a distinct look backwards (I'm thinking of the Colours label as but one example). The packaging of the LP is addicting: Great cover art, a well made but primitive booklet, poster, postcard, sticker, and probably something else I can't remember (album is filed).

Ownership: 2022 Dying Victims (LP). Details above.

7/1/25 (review)

Existence ~ Germany

Reign in Violence II (1990 / 2004)

I often state that I like my heavy metal a bit on the messy side - highly creative, unusual, quirky, and unpredictable. Let me introduce you to the latest band I've heard in this category: Existence. From the first notes, I knew this was going to be in my wheelhouse. The riffing and solos are excellent, the vocals are somewhat normal, and the music is all over the place. Now on this latter observation, I'm not a fan of genre hopping or avant garde dissonance. It's none of that, rather it's a very familiar sound but off-kilter. In the end it sounds like Iron Maiden playing the music of Manilla Road with a side of early Fates Warning. The vocals and NWOBHM's heritage recall Legend (UK). Competent and creative, but not pitch perfect, not even close. Existence defies their German heritage and sounds like a band that could have emerged from the garages of West Virginia. And 1990 was the height of these bands rising to the surface. Most received no press coverage and were a memory of but a few that saw them in the dingy clubs of the era.

As if to prove their quirkiness, Existence's existence (as it were) is also murky. Their debut Reign in Violence was recorded in 1990 but not released until 2001. To add to the weirdness, that debut only came out on LP. In 2001? So they missed the cassette and tail end of the LP era only to release an LP in the middle of the CD era. OHKaaay. Their next recording wouldn't be until 14 years later, the cd-r only Ventricular Fibrillation. By then the few that did know Existence had long forgotten them and this oddly titled release didn't get them any further notice. They did release one more CD in 2008 which I haven't heard.

To take the strangeness one step further, the privately released Reign in Violence II compilation features the above two albums. Neither in full (first album is missing one track and the latter is missing three), but the oddest part is the way the tracks are presented. Every other song comes from one album or the other. And while their musical approach didn't change at all in those 14 years, their sound did. So it's a rather jarring contrast going back and forth. One from a 1990 era tech metal production album to another 2004 production, which has an almost industrial sound to it. It's just bizarre really. The booklet doesn't help, providing lyrics to only the Reign in Violence album while the other you would think might be instrumental (it's not). The back cover color codes which album each track comes from, but they don't provide a key to the colors. And just to put the final nail in the insane grave, they inserted one 15 second uncredited instrumental in the middle, so even the track numbers don't match for the latter two thirds. What a mess.

Ownership: 2005 private (CD)

8/4/24 (review / new entry)