Vitamin X - About to Crack (2012)

Drenched in a sweaty musical bliss, nearly every song on Vitamin X's latest offering, About to Crack, is backed by a moving, grooving bass line, not unlike what an inebriated Lemmy Kilmister might scribble onto a staff paper for later use during a Motörhead set. Bluesy solo guitaring proves to be one of the more enjoyable qualities of the record and points right at "Fast" Eddie Clark, another, though departed, Motörhead veteran. Much like the Brits before them, Vitamin X gather the best qualities of metal and punk, crafting an accessible and wonderfully coherent product.

Instead of clocking in at a gut wrenching 30 minutes of speedy shenanigans, Vitamin X takes a complete u-turn, opting for an acceleration-hungry 18 shakes. To put things into perspective, rockers can listen to this record twice in the span one might spin a "regular" album. Whereas the average record takes double the time to sink in, About to Crack is extremely easy to absorb after a mere two spins but at a slight cost: many of the songs fuse together and become indistinguishable from one another until listeners sit down and analyze what has entered one ear and left the other.

Thank God We'll NEVER Have to Order from NHR Records Ever Again

I would advise you to avoid, but they're gone.

I always take precaution when ordering from a new record label because the practice is just, well, good practice. Even as I say that, Northern Horde Record's "going-out-of-business" sale was too appealing to pass up, with each CD priced at a measly two dollars--effectively pocket change in an industry that marks up a simple disc to an astronomical price point. 

How any company can make a pretty penny off of that price is beyond my comprehension. Isn't the goal to reduce prices during a liquidation sale, but still turn a slight profit? Instead of doing my research, I idiotically jumped the gun and reveled in the idea that four CDs could be had for eight bucks. Heck, I could even buy one for a friend of mine (or so I thought...). My hopes were shattered, sadly, when my order didn't arrive for two months. Something was going to be very wrong, especially because no one at the company cared to reply to emails until the orders were out of their hands--regardless of potential problems.

Vinyl Viernes: Diskord's Dystopics LP

Well, I messed up big time. I forgot Vinyl Viernes last Friday. Now seems like as good a time as any to give a quick sneak peak at what recently crawled into my vinyl collection, a beautifully crafted two-tone record, courtesy of our Norwegian friends, Diskord. Shipping from Norway was brisker than expected, thanks to a professionally run label (No Posers Please!), and the album arrived in my hands at a sliver under two weeks. Needless to say, I was impressed, but I was also psyched that the guys were generous enough to give the record's slipcase a marvelous graffiti bath at my request.

Panikk Signs with Metal Tank Records

Looks like yet another old school-sounding band has worked a deal with Metal Tank. I've been following the label since one my favorites, Vigilance, inked an agreement a few weeks ago, but, admittedly, I'm sick and tired of the thrash revival trend that offers no originality to the subgenre. Thankfully, Panikk seems pretty decent, at least from the small clip that was provided with the press release.

P.S. Is that Dave Mustaine standing at the microphone?

From the band: “We went into DYZ Sonic Temple Studio in March to record a debut album, Unbearable Conditions, under the surveillance of producer DYZ. We’re pumped with thrash that is energetic and tight sounding--and so is our music, which doesn’t give a fuck toward today's trends. We wrote six songs anew and took two ongs off of our demo, rearranged them, and made them even better. We invited along two friends Domen Justin (DYZ) and Tim Draksler, who contributed a few solos.”

-TMA

Nekrofeist - Without Reserve or Regret (2012)

Right off the bat, Nekrofeist’s newest effort is much more enjoyable than the previous release, a rather sad collection of four songs that failed to push any boundaries. Many listeners left less than pleased with the self-titled debut, even after countless listens, but the new record, Without Reserve or Regret, hits many of the right points, metal blitzkrieg and all. There is no prima donna bullshit here, much like what the previous album attempted to shove to the forefront--just heavy hitting music, supplemented by a generously fat helping of memorability and commercialism. 

A natural extension and improvement from its older sibling, Nekrofeist has done an admirable job patching the holes that made the first so generic and a bore to sit through. Thanks to the charismatic belting of Dave Tinelt, not only is the music aggressively-geared this time around but also able to quietly tiptoe back and forth over the fine line dividing the accessible and extreme. In other words, Without Reserve or Regret is attractive from a mainstream standpoint, all while handily toying with the taste buds of even the most ruthless music listener.