various artists - Masters Of Misery - Black Sabbath: An Earache Tribute

I've been saving this for a special occasion. But my brain gets sidetracked all the time by so many things, not to mention the correct spelling of "occasion", which never looks right to me, although the dictionary and spell check tell it is, indeed, correct. And, thus, this has been hanging out on various file sharing platforms for at least a couple of years.

The time for action is now. ADHD be damned.

I was all of 15, and not much of a metal fan, when this came out as a Japan-exclusive release in 1992. Curated by the extreme metal label Earache, and released by their Japanese distributor Toy's Factory, this collects the bleeding edge of what metal was in the last decade of the millenium, all performing songs by the sainted Black Sabbath. Sabbath was on a bit of an uptick, having released "Dehumanizer" earlier that year, having reunited the "Mob Rules" lineup. But at the time to most, Black Sabbath was the band Ozzy used to front, a group that was better known for inspiring bits in This Is Spinal Tap than any music they'd made in the past 10 years.

I guess my point is that Black Sabbath, a band never known as cool up to that point, was decidedly at their most uncool. And to have so many leading lights of the underground acknowledge a key influence that was at its ebb was a very awesome thing. There aren't any duds here, a testament not only to the lineup, but also to the songwriting chops of Iommi, Butler, Ward and Osbourne/Gillan.

This has been reissued and resequenced a number of time over the years, the first time in 1995. Cadaver's cover of "Sweet Leaf" got dropped, and contributions from Anal Cunt, Ultraviolence, and Iron Monkey added, reflecting Earache's contemporary roster more accurately. It wasn't for the best, in my humble opinion. This remains the definitive version of what is still my favorite Sabbath tribute.

Discogs

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various artists - Ugly Music...For Ugly Minds

Another Sunday has come, and I have nothing in the queue, so let's fall back to an old favorite.

Relapse has ALWAYS had samplers worth holding onto. There are bands who I've never owned a record but, yet I can still still recall the samples used or the opening blast beat or riff from their track on "Spectrum Fest" or "Fast Forward" or "Contaminated". These led to my first exposures to Merzbow, Human Remains, Repulsion, and Benümb. I'm lucky that it expanded my mind and didn't melt my brain.

"Ugly Music...For Ugly Minds" finds Relapse celebrating its Sweet 16 with the sort of eclectic roster that we'd all come to know and love by that point. There were doom metal pioneers Pentagram, label mainstay Bongzilla, soon-to-be-major-label-megastars Mastodon, and the late, great Nasum; all names well known in the metal underground. But there were also contributions from also long-time Pittsburgh math rockers Don Caballero, Seattle thrashers Zeke, and techy instrumentals from Dysrhythmia and Zombi. There's an obligatory Dave Witte appearance in the form of southern "supergroup" Birds of Prey. In all, it's 19 tracks worth of the sort of sounds that are still well worth the $5 or so I'm sure this retailed for.

Discogs

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various artists - Eat The Evidence #3

For someone who's not really at all into death metal, I sure own a lot of it.

Ditto for goregrind.

Anyway, I noticed I have nothing queued up for today, and this has been sitting on my Mediafire page for more than a minute. As I learned from Dune, "The spice must flow."

(A note for followers: I'm making the switch from Mediafire to Kraken for file hosting in the near future. If you have any horror stories, I'd like to hear them before I fully move 20 years of media hosting over there.)

Here's the third of three "Eat The Evidence" comps from the short-lived Mortal Coil label. I've looked at all three comps, and the only band I recognize is Dying Fetus.

If you're a fan of unreadable band logos, tasteful artwork, and songs about dissections, consensual and not, this is probably up your alley.

Discogs

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various artists - Deadly Mince Grinder: The Third World Scum Project

The one had all the hallmarks of a "must buy" when I found it, tucked away on the dusty bottom shelf of a thrift store I'd never set foot in just an hour from the Canadian border.

Were there bands I'd never heard of? Check! Hailing from a place (Indonesia) I'd never been? Double check!

Was there a Carcass cover? Check! Was it "Reek of Putrefaction"? Lemme give ya a check!

Was this co-released by five or more labels? Check! Did at least one of those labels also release records by Unholy Grave or Agathocles? Mic check!

Recordings like this are a great reminder that you can find gold literally in the weirdest, most unexpected places, sorted in between an Elton John "Candle in the Wind '97" CD single and a Boxcar Willie cassette. I cannot tell you how much this made my day.

Discogs

Click here to download.