Forgotten Metal: Outstanding Metal Gems V.6

Artist: Stormtrooper , Avalon , and Emmy Strut
Label: Revenge of True Metal
Category: Music

Average customer rating:

Format: Import
Media: Audio CD

UPC: 667344369820
EAN: 0667344369820
ASIN: B0009UWZQI

Release Date: 2005-04-28

Related Categories:

General

| Hard Rock & Metal | Styles | Music

Tracks:

Reaper
Armies Of The Night
Steamroller
Search And Destroy
Beast Within
Live Or Die
Lonely Mountain
Wings Of Steel
New King Rising
Freedom Shore
Sea Of Fate
Lords Of Chaos
Mist Of Avalon
Eyes Of The Night
Ready For Action
No Escape
Comin' And Goin'

Customer Reviews:

Stormtrooper good, but skip Volume 6 and read my advice below!.......2005-09-08

Hi Metal Fans! Earlier this year I discovered this series of triple threats from the Revenge Of True Metal(?) label and became immediately intreagued! There are 18 seperate discs in this series that chronicles some of the underground metal scenes most obscure recordings from the 1980's (mostly anyway...a few from the early 90's). Each one features 3 complete recodings by different heavy metal artists, making a total of 54 full-length LPs and EPs in all, so each one is jam packed with music!

I purchased a complete set of these and have now had time to listen to each one and, since these are expensive and many of you have no doubt never heard (or heard of!) a lot of the bands on these recordings, I thought I would help out and offer my reviews of each one and thereby recommend some of the better volumes in the series! Hope all my effort helps you pick the best ones!

There are albums on Volume 6 by the bands STORMTROOPER, AVALON and EMMY STRUT.

The initial offering on Metal Gems Volume 6 is by the group STORMTROOPER and is called "Armies Of The Night". It was released in 1986 and the band is from the United States. Definately a band playing on the heavier side of the genre. I found immediate comparisons to INFERNAL MAJESTY and SAVAGE GRACE. The vocals are very growly and aggressive, albeit not quite like today's death metal bands. It's not Cookie Monster style, but more like Animal at his most intense maybe. The group, while very heavy, manages to create some really memorable choruses and chops along the way, and as things progressed I couldn't help but think of other metal acts like TYRANT, NUM SKULL and even SLAYER when the solos took over. This one is really heavy, but also very good! If you really want to hear a lot of this band, I should mention that this album was also released in 2004 by the British label High Vaultage and included a ton of rare bonus tracks. Here however, it's just the contents of the original "Armies Of The Night" release that are present.

OK, so there are like a thousand bands named AVALON, right? And in fact, this is one of two different bands with that name that are amongst the 54 albums offered in total over the 18 volumes of the Metal Gems series. This "AVALON" is from the United States and their release on Volume 6 is entitled "Live Or Die". It's a full-length album with 8 tracks in all. I can't seem to find any other bands to compare this one to off hand. But I know I wasn't overly impressed by this one. It sounds to me like the individual instruments are all broken apart from each other too much and there is never a real fluidity created by the band. This is another one that doesn't have the strongest production, but it's really not all that bad, it's just that the band isn't that great. The vocals aren't anything that wonderful either, mostly just some ruffian yawlps and screaming. I don't know, maybe I'm being too critical of this one, but the whole deal just seems way too "programmed" from the outset. There are a few shinging spots of guitar soloing which is nice, but I'm afraid it's just not enought to save this one from being a bit of a turkey. Hey, they can't all be winners, right?

As for the third release offered on Volume 6, it comes to us from the U.S. group EMMY STRUT and is a self-titled release with 4 tracks, released in 1985. Unlike the album by RAY GUNN, which is on Metal Gems Volume 2, EMMY STRUT is not a person's name. However this 4-man band does feature two siblings in the person of vocalist Scott Thompson and his bassist brother Mark Thompson. Scott's vocals remind me of a poor-man's Ozzie Osbourne or perhaps the vocalist from TENSION. This one is more in the greasy hard rock vein than the pure metal one for sure. The songs are basic and sound as if they were hairtrigger composed both lyrically and musically. Nothing all that interesting going on here at all. There are a million metal bands with records like this one. I wish I could say better things about EMMY STRUT, and I would have if they could have been a bit more original. This stuff isn't bad at all, it's just been done many times over again is all.

So in conclusion, I'm afraid the STORMTROOPER is really the only thing worth having here, and I would purchase the High Vaultage re-issue of this one on it's own with the bonus material and skip getting Volume 6 at all. EMMY STRUT just isn't that interesting and the AVALON wasn't good at all to me. For my rating therefore, I'm going to completely ignore the presence of the STORMTROOPER recording and just give this what it deserves based on the other two albums...1 lonely star! Avoid this one unless you simply must have them all!

Music CD:

Music CD

Music CD

Music CD

Between Five and Seven ~ John Gorka

Battle Hymns for an Angry Planet ~ Breakdown

Bang ~ Bang

Canciones Para Ninos

Tango ~ Daniel Binelli

Come as You Are ~ Erika Dawn

Si on Avait Besoin D'une Cinquieme Saison

Crystal Voyager ~ Original Soundtrack

Akiiro Renka Original Drama ~ Drama CD

Celebrations for a Grey Day ~ Richard & Mimi Fari%C3%B1a