Most Helpful Customer Reviews
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6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
Classic Doom, February 16, 2005
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.
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5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
Feed Your Mind. , April 11, 2005
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"!
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8 of 10 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
Best Work from an uneven band, March 29, 2005
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.
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