Headbangin' 201

VARIOUS ARTISTS

Headbangin' 201

Retroactive Records / Bombworks Records

2008

A joint effort by two of the more prominent labels releasing good, quality Christian heaviness, the second in what I hope will be an ongoing series of compilations featuring 9 tracks each from bands on both the Retroactive and Bombworks labels features a cardboard sleeve with artwork by none other than Monte Colvin of Galactic Cowboys fame, and a CD that's crammed full of heavy goodness. But, don't let the cheep packaging fool you, there. Let's take a look at what's contained, shall we?

FAITH FACTOR - In God's Shadow
...old school HEAVY metal with heavy doses of good old fashioned heavy thrashin' guitars, fiery solos, and soaring vocals. Very good cut to start things off with...

MAIN LINE RIDERS - Put The Hammer Down
...heavy, hard and sleazy hard rock cut from Main Line Riders. Just gives me a strong urge to give the disc this cut is from another in a long line of spins, and pine for new stuff from this band...

GRAVE ROBBER - Rigor Mortis
...I really, really, really need to get the album this cut is taken from. Grave Robber plays a classic Misfits horror punk style, and I love it. Darn economy...

DELIVERANCE - This Present Darkness
...this classic in Christian thrash is taken from the re-release of Weapons Of Our Warfare, which Retroactive managed to get the rights for and gave it a big-time spit-n-polish both in the production and the packaging (though, to be honest, the new cover is a bit...um, cheesy is the work I wanna say, here, but at least they stayed true to the original). This song sounds great, I might have to pick up the re-release sometime soon...

HOLY BLOOD - The Patriot
...YES! Fantastic forest metal by the Ukrainian band that's fast becoming one of my favorite extreme metal imports. This is from their recent release of the same name, and the music on this cut is just as majestically beautiful as it is extremely brutal...

MY SILENT WAKE - Cruel Grey Skies
...dark, haunting and gothic doom metal cut from one of Ian Arkley (of Seventh Angel fame)'s many projects. Another album I'll have to look into getting...

CENTURY SLEEPER - Arnos Vale
...another band that Ian Arkley was associated with (does the man ever sleep?). This cut comes from the re-release of Awaken on Bombworks Records, and is another example of dark doom metal...very good cut...

THE SEVENTH POWER - Dominion & Power
...powerful mid-paced heavy metal from a band that features members of Titanic, Stryper and Final Axe. Good cut, but I can't seem to get past the processed-sounding vocals, here...

DELIVERANCE - No Love
...another classic speed metal cut from Deliverance, this time from their self-titled debut. Again, the sound here has much improved from the original Intense release...

HIS WITNESS - Kingdom Come
...this cut comes from a band that, for some reason, didn't manage to get released when the album this was culled from was recorded in 1988. Pity, as the song here would have fit in so very well with the Christian metal scene back then, with Sacred Warrior, Saint and Shout and the like. Galloping metal for us hair and leather fans...

COMMON YET FORBIDDEN - Face Of The Father
...pretty extreme death / thrash with leanings toward metalcore, here. Not bad, really...

SYMPATHY - Enslaved By Depravity
...oh, yeah...intense, heavy, brutal death / black metal from the frozen north of...Canada. Great stuff, from the band's long-awaited Anagogic Tyranny release...

BEALIAH - ...Father Of The Undead
...brutal old-school black metal from the same guy who brought us Doctor D and Armageddon Holocaust...very good stuff, here...

AZMAVETH - Master Of Light
...brutal old-school black metal from Puerto Rico. Raw, horrific and beautiful...again, very good stuff here...I'm liking this trend...

MENCHEN - Forty
...Bill Menchen is that guy from the afore-mentioned The Seventh Power, Titanic, Final Axe and the guy behind Rev. 7. This song is pretty heavy, rifftacular and stripped down hard rock with straight forward Christian lyrics and clean vocals. Not bad, really...

ANGEL 7 - New Heavens Above The New Land
...quite the mix of power metal, heavy metal and thrash, with death / black vocals...very intense stuff here, with leads that will melt the eyeballs out of your head...

HOPE HAS FAILED US - Texas Blood Money
...heavy, beefy and extreme modern death metal from Dallas, Texas...I'm pretty sure the metal from that state has something to do with the chili...or something...

WHITECROSS - Lookin' For A Reason
...this cut is from the rerecorded version of the band's debut album. Nice hard rock cut to end things on this compilation...

...so, there you go. Nice, beefy mix of heavy metal, hard rock, speed / thrash, death and black metal to appease any and all fans of the heavy stuff. Mind you, I got my copy for free with my subscription to the Heaven's Metal 'zine (if you don't have a subscription, shame on you), but for $4.99, with 18 cuts, it's hard not to think of a reason to not get this nifty collection...