Well, Relapse has done it again, another awesome re-release. They've done it with Human Remains, Repulsion, God Macabre, and now with Cryptic Slaughter. Cryptic Slaughter's first two albums, Convicted and Money Talks have gotten the expected Relapse re-release treatment (guess what I'll be reviewing next week). What we have on Convicted is the complete album plus a wonderful selection of bonus tracks, including the infamous 5 track Life in the Grave demo and four tracks recorded live in Houston in 1988, along with cool liner notes that give a dandy little bio of the album and the early history of the band.
For those who don't know, Cryptic Slaughter were one of the first and most influential crossover bands, and Convicted first came out in the summer of '86 on the then up-and-coming Metal Blade label. Having already gathered a significant fan base through the famous tape-trading circuit back in the day, Convicted must have surprised even the most hardcore of metal and punk fans. Combining the thrashing fury of Slayer and the anti-establishment politics of Discharge and other hardcore bands, Cryptic Slaughter were one of the trend setters in over the top speed metal/punk bands. Even though I was barely two when this album was first released, I cannot help but marvel at the intensity of this record. It is ridiculously fast paced, relentless, and raw. And that is just the debut. Of course the true treat of these kinds of releases are the demos and live tracks, and the Life in Grave demo does not disappoint. Sounding like Venom on speed, the demo is just mind blowing. Slayer wasn't this tough at the time, and no band that I'm aware of could thrash this fast or this hard in 1985.
Even though it is impossible for me to truly understand the historical importance of this record (I could barely walk when it came out) I can wholeheartedly say that this still kicks ass. Horns up to Relapse for bringing a long out of print classic back to the attention of the metal masses.
3 comments:
The link is dead
I didn't have any trouble downloading it so the link must have been fixed. This is a great classic. Thanks!
Well, Relapse has done it again, another awesome re-release. They've done it with Human Remains, Repulsion, God Macabre, and now with Cryptic Slaughter. Cryptic Slaughter's first two albums, Convicted and Money Talks have gotten the expected Relapse re-release treatment (guess what I'll be reviewing next week). What we have on Convicted is the complete album plus a wonderful selection of bonus tracks, including the infamous 5 track Life in the Grave demo and four tracks recorded live in Houston in 1988, along with cool liner notes that give a dandy little bio of the album and the early history of the band.
For those who don't know, Cryptic Slaughter were one of the first and most influential crossover bands, and Convicted first came out in the summer of '86 on the then up-and-coming Metal Blade label. Having already gathered a significant fan base through the famous tape-trading circuit back in the day, Convicted must have surprised even the most hardcore of metal and punk fans. Combining the thrashing fury of Slayer and the anti-establishment politics of Discharge and other hardcore bands, Cryptic Slaughter were one of the trend setters in over the top speed metal/punk bands. Even though I was barely two when this album was first released, I cannot help but marvel at the intensity of this record. It is ridiculously fast paced, relentless, and raw. And that is just the debut. Of course the true treat of these kinds of releases are the demos and live tracks, and the Life in Grave demo does not disappoint. Sounding like Venom on speed, the demo is just mind blowing. Slayer wasn't this tough at the time, and no band that I'm aware of could thrash this fast or this hard in 1985.
Even though it is impossible for me to truly understand the historical importance of this record (I could barely walk when it came out) I can wholeheartedly say that this still kicks ass. Horns up to Relapse for bringing a long out of print classic back to the attention of the metal masses.
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