When Myth and History Merged into Mystery - Frost Giant - 2012

Frost Giant, of "the Hinterlands of Pennsylvania," are more than meets the eye. Their debut EP, When Myth and History Merged into Mystery, appears on its surface to be a slab of Viking-themed metal and, indeed, it delivers there at its core. And -core seems an apt suffix for whatever Frost Giant really is - an intriguing amalgam of Viking, folk, death and melodic elements - Vifolkore? Whatever you call it, When Myth and History Merged into Mystery delivers more than one would expect.

Monster - KISS - 2012

Kiss is an easy target. The band themselves readily and repeatedly admit that the spectacle supersedes the music and nowhere is this more painfully apparent than Monster. From its instantly forgettable made-for-big-box-megastore, uninspired artwork to its flat, muddled production to its uncanny absolute lack of hooks, Monster feels simply like aged-rocker cart-fodder. An album to buy because, hey, it's an album and most bands you dig don't release albums anymore. Kiss is comfortable, familiar territory. Maybe so. But Monster recalls neither heyday highs nor interesting, late-career lows. It's criminally bland.

Black Sunday: Cannabis Corpse - The Weeding (2009) & Beneath Grow Lights Thou Shalt Rise (2011)

Cannabis Corpse is fun to listen to, even more fun to collect on wax. With color variations like "Bongwater" and "Loogy," the run-to-the-shelf-and-compare song title tributes and insane artwork, this is a band, sincere or not, that almost demands the vinyl format in order to be fully appreciated.

With four records under their ammo belts, Cannabis Corpse appear to have settled in at Tankcrimes, at least for their last two releases, a 12" EP, The Weeding, and the full-length, Beneath Grow Lights Thou Shalt Rise. The immediate impact, and key now to the Corpse image, is the artwork by Andrei Bouzikov (an association which began with the band's Tube of the Resinated LP from 2008). For a metal vinyl collector this is a dream come true as Tankcrimes is at the top of the list when it comes to labels releasing lush, colorful packages with lots of colored vinyl in creative variations and, to top it off, everything they release sounds fantastic.

My copy of The Weeding came from the record's third pressing and I got one of 200 "Loogy" variations (a nice mucusy smear in the midst of clear vinyl). 300 splatter and 500 orange records rounded out that release though it appears only "Loogy" remains available. The sleeve is one of my absolute favorites and has the kind of detail that can keep you busy for hours. Add to that the artwork by Jared Power on the opposite of the lyric sheet insert and this brief EP offers one hell of a visual return.

Beneath Grow Lights Thou Shalt Rise is how the band caught my attention at the outset. A stellar video commercial for the record made it absolutely irresistible and, after grabbing this one, got the rest from Tankcrimes in one fell swoop (in addition to their own releases from Cannabis Corpse they also distribute the first two records). A gatefold sleeve holds the lyrics within but, again, it's the front of this baby that immediately draws the eye. Bouzikov's government-grade weed has apparently gone bad (or worse), tearing apart a hapless metalhead in excruciating, colorful detail.

The vinyl itself on Beneath Grow Lights Thou Shalt Rise is the "splatter" variant, a nice bright yellow base that complements the album's titles with splotches of green that match up nicely with, of course, all that green. As best I can tell, this and the clear "Pro Stoner Die Hard" and Bongwater Blue are all gone for now. Grab what you can while you can and hope they cultivate some more.

Born of the Bomb - Lich King - 2012

Born of the Bomb is as big as its name. Thrash revivalists/purists (I here on out dub 'em Frashcists) Lich King, already over the top, have, either by accident or design, crafted more than a monster - it may actually be something mature. A recent convert to the realm of Lich King, they were immediately easy to like, with three proper full-lengths progressing in excellence from 2007 to 2010, whose World Gone Dead sucked me in to an immediate "gotta grab it all" acquisition of the band's catalogue. "Fun" is an overused term for take-it-serious justification of less-than-serious subject matter but Lich King fit the bill. I'll wager that there are thousands upon thousands out there for whom Lich King's music feels custom-made. A DNA of stellar old-school thrash lies at the core of an unholy corpse acting as a conduit for influences ranging from George R.R. Martin to Paul Verhoeven, sprinkling in an overall love of the undead and post-apocalyptic chaos, and it all speaks directly to this born-in-the-70s-raised-on-Troma-and-Cannon-films metal fan. "Fun" is also, unfortunately, synonymous with "easily dismissed" and an act like Lich King, at this rate dead-seriously outpacing Anthrax's comparable evolution, ends up criminally underknown and dangerously underestimated.