Customer Reviews

V

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

 

 

This album was recorded in late 1989 and released in 1990. This was their fifth album and the last one to feature the mighty Scott Weinrich. This record was recorded in Germany and some of the more noteable "thanks to" listed in the liner notes are: "cheeseburgers, beck's, and McDonald's (fish macs in the morning)"! Did the abundance of fast foods and alchohol have an adverse effect on this record? Here are my ratings of the songs based out of 5 *****:

"Living Backwards" - Fuzzy guitar and a loud,thumping bass usher in Scott's "Ozzy-like" vocals.."I've been gone forever. Lost in my own zone." Fantastic drumming and a backwards sounding guitar solo, ala Kerry King style. A very thunderous, pounding, sludgefest of a tune. "Dreams were made for mortals. None were left for me." Don't worry, dreams are WAY overrated, but this song isn't! A GREAT song! Rating - *****

"I Bleed Black" - Slow, "doomish" sounding guitar and synthesizer howling wind effects pave way for Scott's disturbing lyrics.."Open my veins. I do it everyday." Scott's emotions are made transparent in his fantastic singing on this tune. He really pours every ounce of energy into his vocals. This is a slow, trudging tempo. The tempo picks up for Dave Chandler's guitar solo, as double-bass drum kicks and super heavy bass clear the way for the solo and he really lets fly! A scorching solo from Dave with alot of distortion and whammy-bar use. The tempo resumes it's opening rhythm after the solo. A fantastic piece of molten metal! Rating - *****

"When Emotion Dies" - This is a solo piece with Dave Chandler singing accompanied by multi-layered female backing vocals and acoustic guitar. The background vocals give this piece an ethereal feeling. The lyrics aren't as much sung as they are read. A moody piece. Rating - ***

"Patra (Petra)" - Guitar riff VERY reminiscent of the riff done on "Black Sabbath" opens this tune (only thing missing is the bell chiming). A VERY SLOOOOW tempo then ensues. The feeling of wading through a tar pit overcomes your senses. The tempo picks up steam for the guitar solo as uber thumping bass lines from Mark Adams helps to clear the cobwebs. The slooow tempo resumes after the solo. This is a song about longing for someone you are unable to have and the tempo brings to mind the slow movement of time as you sit alone thinking of the one you can't have. Rating - ***

"Ice Monkey" - Guitar solo opens this song and a mid-tempo beat then begins. There are blazing, short guitar solos tossed in throughout the song. Dave get's center stage with his guitar, and his solos remind me of Iommi's "Trashed" sound. Rating - ****

"Jack Frost" - Solo bass playing starts and then guitar and drums chime in echoing the bass rhythm. The tempo is EXTEMELY SLOOOOOOW! "Winter is coming. You better take care." My body is numb just from the tempo! Dave usher's in the winter with a fantastic display of feedback, distortion, wah-wah use. The aura of a blizzard or gale bearing down on you comes through with the buzzing/howling guitars. The noise suddenly stops and a solo bass signals the storm has passed. You poke your head out to see the damage done..."Your world is smothered. Under frozen ground." sings Scott. The frozen sloooow tempo then resumes. Have a nice winter! Rating - ****

"Angry Man" - This a fast tempo (ANYTHING feels fast after the last tune). The opening pace reminds me of "Children Of the Grave" and the chorus section of "Iron Man". There is some awesome bass playing by Mark Adams (he did write the music for this) and drumming by Armando Acosta. Some great lyrics by Dave Chandler really make this piece..."Hard for me to be happy with sadness all around. Real easy to be angry, ain't no problem to frown." My favorite song from the album. Rating - *****

"Mind Food" - Fuzzy guitar, heavy bass to a punkish beat with psychedlic lyrics! What more do you want? Some great guitar solos? Present! Rating - ****

The real bonus is the live concert footage of the band from 5/16/86. This was Scott's first live show! ANY footage of Saint Vitus is near impossible to find, so this CD is worth it just for that! But, this is an awesome piece of music! Unfortunately, the corporate music stations felt that Rick Astley and Debbie Gibson were more suited and appropriate for the American public, so this album got ZERO airplay. Saint Vitus is one of the lost classic, underrated bands from the 1980's. Discover the REAL genius' and musical inspirations. Get this album! It's pure "mind-food"!

Saint Vitus are one of the best and most legendary of traditional doom metal bands. But don't let the term doom metal stop you from listening to them: actually they sound like Black Sabbath mixed with Creddance Clearwater Revival, that is, mostly 70's heavy metal with Southern Rock influence. Scott Weinrich is great on this album as on all his work. If you like classic metal, give this a listen.

Sait Vitus never achieved much in their days of recording and touring (back in thr 1980's). They were buried by megastar metal bands like Judas Priest, Iron Maiden, Metallica, and Ozzy Osbourne (solo). Bands like Motely Crue, Guns and Roses, and several dozen "hair metal" bands managed to push stoner/doom bands like SAINT VITUS so far back that by the time the 1980's ended, few people seemed to recall that they ever existed. But with the return of metal, after the record sales collapse caused by Boy Bands, pop-divas, American Idols, and other musical farces, Saint Vitus is experiencing a resurgence in popularity.

Musically, this sounds a lot like Black Sabbath's VOL4 or Master Of Reality albums, with a little more blues rock-and-roll. This is probably not surprising, since "St Vitus' Dance" (a medieval term for Multiple Sclerosis) was a song on Sabbath's Vol.4 album.

As "doom " or "Stoner" rock goes, this album is one of the best. Unlike a lot of thrash, it is surprisingly listenable -- no ear fatigue from too many notes played at exactly the same speed and volume. And unlike most death metal, the songs don't self-destruct as soon as the vocals kick in.

Fans of analog audio will love the tube-amp fuzz and distortion in the guitars here. The re-mastering job is a huge improvement over the original (a lot like the MEGADETH remasters were). Tyhe drums sound like drums (not cardboard boxes), and the bass is tight but still booms out with plenty of energy (the older recordings made it sound muddy and almost sloppy).

Best tracks:
Living Backwards, Petra, I Bleed Black.

V is widely considered Saint Vitus's best album, and I agree. I'm glad to see it back in production. This is classic Doom Metal! All the tracks on this CD deliver deep, heavy Doom, with legends Dave Chandler's screaching guitars and Wino's iconic voice. All tracks, that is, except for "When Emotion Dies," a wailing Doom ballad? I couldn't believe Chandler and Wino wrote this together...it's really out of place on this album. But not even that could stop me from giving this 5 stars. "Petra" is my absolute favorite song of all time...low and slow, clear-cut Doom with emotional lyrics of loss that really typifies the entire genre for me. "Living Backwards," another classic, picks up the pace with lyrics about being an archaic outsider ala "Born Too Late." "I Bleed Black" has a huge, fuzzed-out guitar and describes a bleak outlook on the world, and "Jack Frost" slows it down again with an interlude of Dave's chaotic guitar frenzy.

This album is an absolute must for any Doom/Stoner Metal fan, and now is a great time to buy it as it includes live footage of Wino's first show with Vitus...it's worth $15 alone to see Dave wig out on his guitar with that HUGE mass of hair.

This music is like water to a thirsty man. Built from the foundations of Sabbath but in power they reign true to thier own colors. Thier music is very slow and full of distortion. For those that are unfamiliar with DOOM METAL; It can be described as somewhat cinematic, very barbarian-like rage, with mythical undertones; such as a dragon's growl.

This particular album has great ballads of despair, unrequited love, and interdependence. My description might not attract anyone, but take heed...the music is solid and you'll only wish you had more power to blare out the building.

Many other bands have drawn some major influence from St.Vitus. DOWN is a popular example.

St.Vitus is a band with great history for those interested but, I have to add this music is a particular taste and very broad due to the fact St.V ranks so early in Heavy Metal history. I happen to enjoy most of St.Vitus' work because of it's heaviness.

this album is worth it for the guitar sound alone, lo fi, sludgy, and totally doom metal. the record starts strong and realatively fast with living backwards, and moves into i bleed black, a slow doom song. that is basically how the record works, some songs being total doom (especialy patra), and others being more rock oriented. the band's sound of course works either way. while i do love this record i brought the rating down because of its short length and because i sort of feel it could use at least one other really dirgy song. i'm still going to recomend it though, sheesh, the fuzz is awesome!

concerning the footage: while it is cool to see Chandler looking almost hippie-ish, freaking out during solos and playing with his teeth, and Wino looking like a biker, the sound is very poor. the only parts that you can really hear are the solos, and the vocals are almost impossible to hear.

this is their best work,with Wino anyway.i personally prefer the Scott Reagers stuff, but whatever.
this release is touted as being "re-mastered",which i suppose sounds a bit better but i was disappointed.still rather thin,though i am sure that this is due to limitations inherent with the original recordings.
Kudos to Southern Lord for re-releasing this - great to see some long due interest in this long-neglected band!!

Saint Vitus were a very under-rated band for their time. some people loved them, and some hated them (very few were indifferent). unforunately, the inferior sound quality and production on their studio albums never really lived up to their true power as a great rock band that became a huge influence in the doom/stoner rock scene of today. so when listening to great Saint Vitus albums like this one, you really have to go beyond the raw primative sonic qualities of the recording and go deep into the music itself in order to recognize what great music this is. Southern Lord records did a great job remastering and re-packaging this album. these are classic Vitus tracks and its great to hear them again. I am also a huge fan of Wino, so although I enjoy their earlier stuff before he joined the band, this period of their career is my favorite. also the video footage from the show in '86 is a bonus and is a priceless gem since hardly any live footage of them exists. Saint Vitus are definitely an underground rock legend and this classic album does a great job proving it.