HIGH BIAS -- reissues

High Bias refreshed

AT THE GATES
Slaughter of the Soul
(Earache)
Originally released in 1995, At the Gates' Slaughter of the Soul is a pioneering death metal record in a genre not usually known for innovation. The Gothenburg quintet's fifth album, Soul is the apex of the band's groovy, melodic take on death metal. Guitarists Anders Bjorler and Martin Larsson tear furious riffs out of their axes that would peel layers off a boulder at 50 paces, but they also lay down melodic harmony leads and atmospheric arpeggios with equal enthusiasm. Bassist Jonas Bjorler and drummer Adrian Erlandsson keep the rhythms varied—despite the required bottom-heavy sound of double bass drums, Erlandsson's skill and unusually light touch prevent the music from ever feeling weighted down. Vocalist Tomas Lindberg (who also provides notes for this reissue) never lets up on his just-escaped-from-hell-and-boy-are-my-fangs-tired roar, but when wailed over the eclectic music it never becomes tiresome. Fearsome tunes like "Suicide Nation," "Under a Serpent Sun" and "Unto Others" will make your enemies piss themselves, but meditative interludes like "Into the Dead Sky" and the orchestrally-enhanced "The Flames of the End" will help them clean up. Augmented on this edition with two demos, covers of Slayer (a mind-blowing "Captor of Sin"), Slaughterlord and No Security and an otherwise unreleased original called "The Dying," Slaughter of the Soul still stands as an unqualified masterpiece of extreme metal, setting a new standard that's been emulated and adapted countless times since.

After reaching such a pinnacle, what else could the band do but break up? Various members have since gone on to form Hide and the highly regarded Haunted. Michael Toland [buy it]

For fans of: In Flames, Arch Enemy, Entombed

KISS
The Very Best of Kiss
(Mercury/UTV)
Doing any kind of critical analysis of Kiss is an almost ludicrous endeavor. The band has made a 30-year (!) career out of the lowest common denominator hard rock possible, all simple riffs, one-track-mind lyrics and, in concert at least, pure pyrotechnic spectacle. The band themselves have never had any pretensions toward art (well, except for Music From "The Elder", an album the group itself disowns at this point). Kiss is purely about entertainment, and if they can bring stupid grins to the faces of millions of headbangers and turn a buck at the same time, who's to say they should get any grief for it?

That said, I have to admit that I've never been a Kiss fan. I'm the right age to have grown up listening to the band as a kid, but outside of a 45 of "I Was Made For Lovin' You," I've never owned a Kiss record, nor had any desire to do so. The band has just never appealed to me. But since many of the bands I listen to and love, such as the Hellacopters, are admitted Kissaholics—hell, the Replacements covered "Black Diamond" on Let It Be—I figured I should finally give them a thorough going over, at least in compilation form. Lo and behold, along comes The Very Best of Kiss, the latest dip into a deep well of product in recent years meant to squeeze one more dollar out of the loyal Kiss Army before the band actually follows through on its retirement announcement. Perfect.

As I said, getting a critical perspective on a band as beloved and reviled as Kiss is almost pointless. So rather than a detailed critique, here instead are my impressions of the band after several listens to The Very Best of Kiss.

"Strutter" is a damn good song, like the Rolling Stones gone metal. "Christine Sixteen," in the same vein, ain't bad either.
"Deuce" is a pretty good headbangin' rocker. Gene Simmons has the perfect voice for this kind of stuff, gritty and menacing.
Paul Stanley is technically a very good singer, but there's something about his voice that bugs me over the course of an entire record.
"Rock and Roll All Nite," probably the band's most famous tune, sounds like the band never bothered to finish writing it. It's the laziest anthem I've ever heard. Except, maybe, for "I Love It Loud."
"Beth" is quite possibly the most excruciating ballad in rock history. It gets extra demerits for "pioneering" that bane of Western musical civilization, the sensitive heavy metal ballad.
These guys are the worst lyricists I've ever heard. Not only because 90% of their songs are about schtupping underage girls, but because they're not even clever about it. "I Want You," "C'mon and Love Me," "I Stole Your Love," "Love Gun"…come on, guys, surely you can come up with better double entendres than that.
"Hard Luck Woman" is, surprisingly, a fine acoustic ballad. Oh wait, that's because it totally rips off Rod Stewart's "Maggie May."
The band's 80s work—represented here by "Lick It Up," "Forever" and "God Gave Rock and Roll to You II"— is a crime against humanity, reaching depths of inanity and general musical worthlessness unparalleled in any other so-called classic rock band.
"Shout It Out Loud" may be dumb as dirt, but damn, is it catchy.
Ace Frehley isn't nearly as bad a guitarist as I'd previously thought him to be.
The band's disco years, signified here by "I Was Made For Lovin' You," hold up better than a lot of their straight rock. Yeah, it's cheesy, but it's catchy and sounds distinctive even now.
Where are some of their under-acknowledged classics, like "Black Diamond," "Sure Know Something" or "God of Thunder?" Why not those instead of a mediocrity like "Got to Choose?"
"Detroit Rock City" isn't quite the anthem it's cracked up to be.

There you have it: a baker's dozen of reasons to feel ambivalent about Kiss. Is the band the great rock & roll Satan I'd previously held them to be? Nah. Am I a convert? Not really. Should you buy this? Sorry, can't help ya there. Kissaholics already have and the rest of us, well, you have to make your own choice on this one. Michael Toland [buy it]

For fans of: Aerosmith, Motley Crüe, Damn Yankees

LIVING COLOUR
Vivid
(Epic/Legacy)
Forget, for a moment, the baggage attached to Vivid, the debut album from the landmark New York band Living Colour. Ignore, if you can, the fact that the biggest hype dumped on this record upon its original 1989 release was that it was a heavy metal record made by African-Americans (not that that wasn't significant, even though Bad Brains and Mother's Finest had been there first). Put aside—oh please God put aside—the notion put forth in this edition's liner notes that LC was the precursor to rap/rock nü-metal bands like Linkin Park and Rage Against the Machine. (Sorry, we won't allow you to blame Living Colour for that turgid crap.) Instead, listen to this record purely as a musical experience, for that is what will ultimately matter in the long run.

As a collection of songs, a slab of heavy rock & roll, does Vivid hold up? The short answer: yes. The long answer: hell yes. Crunching rockers like "Desperate People," "Which Way to America" and "Middle Man" (which should appear on any "best of metal" compilation in a fair and just universe) expertly mix catchy melodies, smart lyrics and bonecrushing riffs, while "Funny Vibe" (featuring Chuck D. and Flavor Flav from Public Enemy) and "What's Your Favorite Color?" blend subtle anti-racist attitudes with humor and hard rockin' funk. "Broken Hearts" and "I Want to Know" show not only a romantic but also a pop-oriented side the band would rarely exploit in later years, and "Open Letter (To a Landlord)" and "Cult of Personality" work wonderfully as either socially conscious treatises or headbangin' anthems. Corey Glover is still the most soulful singer metal has ever produced, Vernon Reid is as tasteful a shredder as you're likely to find, Will Calhoun's drumming makes hard rock swing, and long-lost bassist Muzz Skillings is an unheralded virtuoso. Whatever its social significance, whatever importance you might place on its very existence, Vivid is still one of the greatest metal records of all time.

This edition comes with five bonus tracks, the most significant of which is the band's incendiary cover of the Clash's "Should I Stay or Should I Go." Also included are fairly pointless dance remixes of "What's Your Favorite Color?" and "Funny Vibe" and solid live versions of "Middle Man" and "Cult of Personality." There are tons of cooler extras floating around on various 12-inch singles and promo disks; where are the great live#LivingColour' On" and Tracy Chapman's "Talkin' Bout a Revolution?" Next reissue, maybe? Michael Toland [buy it]

For fans of: Led Zeppelin, Bad Brains' Quickness, Rollins Band