Album Review: Metal Massacre XV
Reviewed by Paul Hutchings
For those who know their metal history, you’ll remember that the first Metal Massacre surfaced in 1982 when Brian Slagel of Metal Blade Records published the now legendary compilation that featured Cirith Ungol, Bitch, Malice, Ratt and a certain Metallica with ‘Hit the Lights’. The rest as they say, is history.
Coordinated by Metal Blade’s Ryan Williams and curated by Decibel Magazine’s Albert Mudrian, Vol XV is the latest instalment which captures the legacy of that now seminal release and showcases some of the finest contemporary metal around today. Williams focused on the old school approach. “We tried to stay true to the old school mentality of making a compilation tape for your friends, featuring bands you really just want other people to check out. This edition includes a diverse collection of metal acts, heavy hitters, modern, and old school tunes - so hopefully there is something for everyone here!”
Ten tracks that last the best part of 50 minutes, there is no better opener that the blackened thrash of Midnight and one of three exclusives on this record with ‘Masked and Deadly’ which takes no prisoners, going full throttle from the opening seconds and erupting into a molten hot three-minutes of riff-laden goodness. Poison Ruin’s ‘Demon Wind’ is more dramatic and measured, at least until the punk-driven stomp kicks in and chaos ensues. It’s a rousing opening.
If you want your head to cave in, stick track three on and allow Fuming Mouth’s bludgeoning assault on ‘Master of Extremity’ to punish you. Thick, heavy sludge ridden riffs haul themselves across the floor, the who experience nasty and visceral. Many Suffer’s ‘The Trees Die Standing’ is next, a shimmering wall of black metal emerges from the frozen wastes, the icy waterfalls of tremolo riffing casting shadows. Several types of metal, and it’s all good.
The combination of death metal, gothic rock and a sprinkling of space rock on ‘Leave the Light’ Behind by Temple of Void transports the listener on a journey before the aggressive entrail removing style of Bone Ritual and ‘Ripped to Shreds’ hits with all the subtlety of a hammer to the nuts! This is followed by the wall levelling ‘Omega’ by Rude, which could only drip with blood to make it scarier, such is the intensity of the band.
A return to the classic metal sound from Midnight Dice, whose track ‘Starblind’ from last year’s Hypnotized EP contains a riff stolen from Maiden’s ‘Children of the Damned’ in the intro before pushing into a much more impressive track from the Chicago outfit whose vocalist Mandy Martillo delivers a fine performance. Touches of early Doro Pesch is certainly meant as a compliment.
Penultimate track features the riff-heavy doom of Toronto’s Smoulder, with Sarah Ann Kitteringham adding to the gender balance with another fine vocal performance on ‘Warrior Witch of Hel’, which worships rightly at the table of Sabbath. That leaves Mother of Graves to bring the album to a close with a Paradise Lost feel on their gothic and doom fused ‘In Somber Dreams’.
There isn’t one track on this album I disliked, and despite the retro feel of compilations in an era of playlists and streaming, this is a great album to dip into. The mix of genres works well, and 40 years since its inception, the Metal Massacre franchise remains as strong today as it did when that urchin Ulrich forced his band’s music on an unsuspecting world.
