Customer Reviews

Regenerated in the Grave

5 star:		(0)
4 star:		(0)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

Bulldozer's "Regenerated in the Grave" boxset is very much a product of the frightening mentality of modern metal labels--favoring oversaturation than letting releases stay out of print, and overzealousness in reissues. I won't get into record label politics or the "shouldn't everything be in-print and available for a fair price? argument," but c'mon. There was a Bulldozer boxset with the first 4 albums 7 years ago (also keep in mind as of this writing, most of the seperate CD reissues also put out at that time are still available), so "Regenerated in the Grave" may have the historical fame of being the first redundant (and most redundant) box-set in heavy metal history.

There's no need to delve into the specifics of the music, as only the most uneducated and oblivious headbangers aren't familiar with Bulldozer to some extent. Imagine a stereo system, a Metallic Influences Stereo, if you will. Play Venom's "Welcome to Hell" on it, turn the NWoBHM knob almost all the way down, and turn the Motörhead knob all the way up. You have Bulldozer's first album. The third album is varied thrash that's executed very well, with great tradional metal inspired soloing. The second album is sort of a dull cross between the albums that preceded and succeeded it, without being as good as either. The fourth album is more technical thrash, solid but not as memorable as anything before it.

The major annoyance factor of the boxset comes from the bonus tracks. For an entire box set, there are only four real bonus tracks. Only three of these are CD-exclusive, and only one, which is ironically only really a cover, seems to be totally exclusive.

First, there is the "Fallen Angel" EP, which was both bootlegged and officially re-released on vinyl. It's desirable on CD, but to buy a whole box set for it? To add insult to injury, it's split up over the first two albums. If you are not a stickler for various versions, keep in mind the A side is just an early version of "Fallen Angel."

Next, we have Labyrinth performing "The Derby" with A.C. Wild. It's advantageous that Labyrinth picked one of Bulldozer's best songs, and helpful that the original frontman is aiding them, but a modern power metal band trying to play a Bulldozer tune would seem and ultimately is incongruous. A lot of bands have been doing better Bulldozer covers than this lately, and I'm actually sort of surprised that there wasn't a bonus CD of cheap covers. It would have helped a lot. This is really the only (as far as I know) exclusive recording here, and I guess it's better here than on an actual Labyrinth CD.

Third, we get part of the 1992 "Dance Got Sick!" mini-CD. Considering the original was only 4 tracks and the box set is pretty barren bonus track-wise, it's ridiculous it's not included in its entirety here. I have a feeling Metal Mind wanted to play it safe and only include the most "metal" tracks from that release there. Yes, the mini-CD did contain dance beats and a rapper. But contrary to popular belief, it's not really a sell-out or change of style in a strict sense. Basically it's got some so-so thrash songs with some added nonsense on the top, and seems totally unserious. The rapping had very stereotypical and explicit lyrics and it ended up being more hilarious in a Body Count "Cop Killer" type way than offensive.

The fifth CD is a live CD recorded in 1989 in Poland. While not stupendous, it's very good in terms of quality and performance, and the Motörhead cover is a major point of interest. This was previously bootlegged on CD, but a fact that escapes most people is that there was a previous official Italian MC/CD release with tracks from the second album. I've heard that due to issues with Roadrunner, the live songs from the first album could not be released. I assume this has something to do with why the second album songs don't appear here (they didn't on the bootleg, or on the official LP). Instead of navigating whatever red tape was in place, Metal Mind offers nothing new or rare compared to the bootleg.

The packaging is decent, but the cover with an illustrated AC Wild seems more fitting for a modern black/death metal band or even King Diamond/Hobbs' Angel of Death. Where's the red on AC's cloak?!?!?! An old band photo would have been much better. The layout for both the box and CDs is a bit more intricate than the 1999 ones, but seems much too modern. They're simple recordings and deserve a simple, clean layout. There's a big booklet full of photos and an interview that's nice, but still doesn't justify the price or redundancy of the box set. More old articles and reviews would have better filled it; as it is, you could find more old material on the band in a Google search than what's present in the booklet.

If you don't have these recordings at all, this is probably a good purchase, but it's a shame the few bonuses are presented in such an unflattering and piecemeal manner. Re-buying CDs was not such an issue a few years ago; labels seemed to truly be symapathetic to different versions already available, or in some cases, reissues were crammed with so much extra material it was justified. Even some live tracks of lousy quality would have helped here. All of Bulldozer's early official material is collected here, true, and maybe Metal Mind couldn't get more. But does that still justify putting out a second box set so soon after previous one that was already quite good? Enough retro metalheads wanting a sweet taste of the '80s will probably buy this as it is, so there's no point in trying to dissuade anyone from getting this. But just consider this. Is taking the lazy way out and re-releasing an expensive and redundant (this isn't even lavish, so don't feel yourself into thinking it's a luxury item) box set really the way to address the problem of the climbing prices of out-of-print/import material?

The music would get 5 stars, but this isn't a music review site. So 2 stars for regurgitating excellent music in a glossy pap box.