Customer Reviews

Heavier Than Thou

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This "greatest hits" album includes cuts from my two favorite Vitus albums, the first "Saint Vitus" and and the EP "Born Too Late". While some moan that it sounds like a cheap Sabbath cover band, these people are simply lame and probably think Rainbow is real heavy metal. These are the people who are responsible for "concept art rock" like Yes. They should be forced to live on a desert island with Barney records. St. Vitus has the trademark bass (powered by classic Orange amps for that old school sound) complemented by excellent heavy guitar work. Psychedelic at times, the guitar provides a classic thick, sludgy, meat tenderizing heavy metal sound. This is music for gearheads and burnouts, think Motorhead. Bludgeoning, heavy music meant to be played extremely loud. Few people realize this, but St. Vitus started on the hardcore/punk label SST and played with legendary punk bands like The MinuteMen, Black Flag, Husker Du and others. While their sound is definately metal, they have the raw energy and mindset of classic hardcore punk. Standout tracks on this release are "Born Too Late" (featuring a wicked psychedelic guitar solo), "Clear Windowpane" (more psychedelia), and "Saint Vitus" (propelled by a tribal drum beat and the heaviest riffage you'll ever hear). If you've got the first couple of albums, this one isn't really necessary, but it will replace that old comp tape you made yourself. If you like Vitus, check out a band called "Sleep". One word, heavy, man.

Many site Saint Vitus as the godfathers of American doom-metal. Lazy reviewers dismiss the band as Black Sabbath clones, but this betrays their lack of understanding of either band if they simply think Slow + Heavy = Black Sabbath wannabe. There is definitely a Sabbath influence, but there is more to Vitus than just that. They are certainly less-Sabbath sounding than bands like Pentagram or Witchfinder General. There is also something of a punk-feeling to Vitus (although they are no punk band), something that is not present in other out and out metallic doom acts like Candlemass.

If you are new to Saint Vitus, this is the place to start. This is still in print, but like a lot of SST albums, its availablity waivers. Anyway, during their time on SST, Saint Vitus had two vocalists, Scott Reagers and Scott "Wino" Wienrich (diehard fans will debate on who is better, but both are quite different), both of whom recorded 2 LPs and 1 EP a piece before the band left SST for Hellhound Records. I mention this because despite the fact the output of the two singers is roughly equal (in terms of quantity, at least), this release is heavily skewed towards the Wino era, with first 10 songs (out of 14 total) being sung by Wino. I suspect that this was not the band's choice but the label's, since SST was known for putting together these compilations without the bands' input. 5 songs come from the "Born Too Late" LP, generally considered Vitus's best album, 2 come from the "Thirsty And Miserable" EP (although they are credited to "Born Too Late" in the liner notes, probably because "Born Too Late" and "Thirsty And Miserable" were combined onto one CD), and 3 songs come from the "Mournful Cries" LP, Saint Vitus's final LP for SST. Both the "Born Too Late" and "Mournful Cries" CDs are still available from SST, although if you own this disc you'll have all but 5 songs that are on those two discs.

Of the final 4 songs on this disc, 2 come from the "Hallow's Victim" LP and 2 from the band's self-titled debut, both of which feature Scott Reagers on vocals. Scott Reagers' vocal style is unique, to say the least, and for some it may be an acquired taste. Upon my first listening, I really laughed at the way he sung, but it grew on my after repeated listens. Now, I actually prefer the early stuff (although that really has little to do with the vocals). Because there is so much Wino-era material on here, space prevents the inclusion of some of the better Reagers-era material, like "Psychopath" from the first LP, or "The Walking Dead" from the EP of the same name, both of which are over 9 minutes long. Unfortunately, "Hallow's Victim" (along with the accompanying EP, "The Walking Dead") was never issued on CD and even the vinyl is no longer available from SST. SST did issue the first record on CD for a brief period, but now it, too, is out of print, so this is your only option for getting any of the Scott Reagers-fronted songs, outside of paying big bucks for the originals.

for Saint Vitus beginners, this is a good place to start if you want to familiarize yourself with S.V.'s music. it mainly focuses on their best album they did on SST records, Born Too Late ('87) which was their first album with newcomer Wino on vocals. Wino had a band called The Obsessed that he broke up to join Saint Vitus. in my opinion, the 2 albums they did with Wino were their best material they did on SST. nothing against the first 2 Scott Reagers fronted albums (those songs are great too). one of S.V.'s weakest points were always their production. the sonic quality on their albums were always very raw, and primative sounding. but don't let this get in the way of listening to the songs and appreciating the power of the music itself. in my opinion, this compilation stands up to any of the legendary albums that came out on SST records back in the 80's.