112 - Hot & Wet (2003)

*European pressing. 

Contains 18 tracks total.

Country: U.S.A.
Genre: R&B

Label Number: 9861461

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© 2003 Bad Boy, Def Soul Records
AllMusic Review by Andy Kellman
As indicated in "Everyday" -- in which the haters are told to "read the credits" -- Bad Boy veterans 112 have gone through their share of ups and downs, from lack of respect to in-fighting to label difficulties. Though Hot & Wet is technically billed as a split release between Bad Boy and Def Soul, the album marks the group's departure from its former label. While the setting has changed (despite P. Diddy remaining on board long enough to serve as executive producer), the results are the same: the group's fourth album offers the same mixed bag of strong singles and inconsistent album cuts that fans have grown accustomed to since the 1996 debut. Appearances from T.I., Ludacris, and Chingy make the group's embrace of the South evident, but none of the rappers -- who were all busy during 2003 -- chip in with top-shelf collaborative work. On the other hand, "Na Na Na Na" is a successful dancehall/R&B mishmash featuring Super Cat. The overabundance of slow-tempo material weighs down the listen, which is especially problematic since the album is nearly 70 minutes in duration. Whoever was responsible for the sequencing of the tracks likely realized this -- why else would the upbeat remix of "Hot & Wet" be thrown into the middle of the album, rather than the end, the spot where most bonus tracks are placed?

tags: 112, hot and wet, hot & wet, 2003, flac,

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The Beatles - The Beatles (1968)

*Also known as "The White Album" Stereo version. 
Original first pressing on C.D.

Country: United Kingdom
Genre: Rock

Label Number: CDS 7 46443 8

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© 1968-1987 Parlophone Records
AllMusic Review by Stephen Thomas Erlewine
Each song on the sprawling double album The Beatles is an entity to itself, as the band touches on anything and everything it can. This makes for a frustratingly scattershot record or a singularly gripping musical experience, depending on your view, but what makes the so-called White Album interesting is its mess. Never before had a rock record been so self-reflective, or so ironic; the Beach Boys send-up "Back in the U.S.S.R." and the British blooze parody "Yer Blues" are delivered straight-faced, so it's never clear if these are affectionate tributes or wicked satires. Lennon turns in two of his best ballads with "Dear Prudence" and "Julia"; scours the Abbey Road vaults for the musique concrète collage "Revolution 9"; pours on the schmaltz for Ringo's closing number, "Good Night"; celebrates the Beatles cult with "Glass Onion"; and, with "Cry Baby Cry," rivals Syd Barrett. McCartney doesn't reach quite as far, yet his songs are stunning -- the music hall romp "Honey Pie," the mock country of "Rocky Raccoon," the ska-inflected "Ob-La-Di, Ob-La-Da," and the proto-metal roar of "Helter Skelter." Clearly, the Beatles' two main songwriting forces were no longer on the same page, but neither were George and Ringo. Harrison still had just two songs per LP, but it's clear from "While My Guitar Gently Weeps," the canned soul of "Savoy Truffle," the haunting "Long, Long, Long," and even the silly "Piggies" that he had developed into a songwriter who deserved wider exposure. And Ringo turns in a delight with his first original, the lumbering country-carnival stomp "Don't Pass Me By." None of it sounds like it was meant to share album space together, but somehow The Beatles creates its own style and sound through its mess.

tags: the beatles, the beatles, 1968, the white album, flac,

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The Beatles - With The Beatles (1963)

*Mono version. 
Original first pressing on C.D.

Country: United Kingdom
Genre: Rock

Label Number: CDP 7 46436 2

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© 1963-1987 Parlophone Records
AllMusic Review by Stephen Thomas Erlewine
With the Beatles is a sequel of the highest order -- one that betters the original by developing its own tone and adding depth. While it may share several similarities with its predecessor -- there is an equal ratio of covers-to-originals, a familiar blend of girl group, Motown, R&B, pop, and rock, and a show tune that interrupts the flow of the album -- With the Beatles is a better record that not only rocks harder, it's considerably more sophisticated. They could deliver rock & roll straight ("I Wanna Be Your Man") or twist it around with a little Latin lilt ("Little Child," one of their most underrated early rockers); Lennon and McCartney wrote sweet ballads (the achingly gorgeous "All I've Got to Do") and sprightly pop/rockers ("All My Loving") with equal aplomb; and the propulsive rockers ("It Won't Be Long") were as richly melodic as slower songs ("Not a Second Time"). Even George Harrison's first recorded song, "Don't Bother Me," is a standout, with its wonderfully foreboding minor-key melody. Since the Beatles covered so much ground with their originals, their covers pale slightly in comparison, particularly since they rely on familiar hits (only "Devil in Her Heart" qualifies as a forgotten gem). But for every "Roll Over Beethoven," a surprisingly stiff reading of the Chuck Berry standard, there is a sublime moment, such as Lennon's soaring interpretation of "You Really Got a Hold on Me," and the group always turns in thoroughly enjoyable performances. Still, the heart of With the Beatles lies not in the covers, but the originals, where it was clear that, even at this early stage, the Beatles were rapidly maturing and changing, turning into expert craftsmen and musical innovators.

tags: the beatles, with the beatles, 1963, flac,

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The Beatles - A Hard Day's Night (1964)

*Mono version. 
Original first pressing on C.D.

Country: United Kingdom
Genre: Rock

Label Number: CDP 7 46437 2

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© 1964-1987 Parlophone Records
AllMusic Review by Stephen Thomas Erlewine
Considering the quality of the original material on With the Beatles, it shouldn't have been a surprise that Lennon & McCartney decided to devote their third album to all-original material. Nevertheless, that decision still impresses, not only because the album is so strong, but because it was written and recorded at a time when the Beatles were constantly touring, giving regular BBC concerts, appearing on television and releasing non-LP singles and EPs, as well as filming their first motion picture. In that context, the achievement of A Hard Day's Night is all the more astounding. Not only was the record the de facto soundtrack for their movie, not only was it filled with nothing but Lennon-McCartney originals, but it found the Beatles truly coming into their own as a band by performing a uniformly excellent set of songs. All of the disparate influences on their first two albums had coalesced into a bright, joyous, original sound filled with ringing guitars and irresistible melodies. They had certainly found their musical voice before, but A Hard Day's Night is where it became mythical. In just a few years, they made more adventurous and accomplished albums, but this is the sound of Beatlemania in all of its giddy glory -- for better and for worse, this is the definitive Beatles album, the one every group throughout the ages has used as a blueprint. Listening to the album, it's easy to see why. Decades after its original release, A Hard Day's Night's punchy blend of propulsive rhythms, jangly guitars, and infectious, singalong melodies is remarkably fresh. There's something intrinsically exciting in the sound of the album itself, something to keep the record vital years after it was recorded. Even more impressive are the songs themselves. Not only are the melodies forceful and memorable, but Lennon and McCartney have found a number of variations to their basic Merseybeat style, from the brash "Can't Buy Me Love" and "Any Time at All," through the gentle "If I Fell," to the tough folk-rock of "I'll Cry Instead." It's possible to hear both songwriters develop their own distinctive voices on the album, but overall, A Hard Day's Night stands as a testament to their collaborative powers -- never again did they write together so well or so easily, choosing to pursue their own routes. John and Paul must have known how strong the material is -- they threw the pleasant trifle "I'm Happy Just to Dance with You" to George and didn't give anything to Ringo to sing. That may have been a little selfish, but it hardly hurts the album, since everything on the record is performed with genuine glee and excitement. It's the pinnacle of their early years.

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The Beatles - Yellow Submarine (1969)

Country: United Kingdom
Genre: Rock

Label Number: CDP 7 46442 2

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© 1969-1987 Parlophone Records
AllMusic Review by Richie Unterberger
The only Beatles album that could really be classified as inessential, mostly because it wasn't really a proper album at all, but a soundtrack that only utilized four new Beatles songs. (The rest of the album was filled out with "Yellow Submarine," "All You Need Is Love," and a George Martin score.) What's more, two of the four new tracks were little more than pleasant throwaways that had been recorded during 1967 and early 1968. These aren't all that bad; "All Together Now" is a cute, kiddie-ish McCartney singalong, while "Hey Bulldog" has some mild Lennon nastiness and a great beat and central piano riff, with some fine playing all around -- each is memorable in its way, and the inclusion of the Lennon song here was all the more important, as the sequence from the movie in which it was used was deleted from the original U.S. release of the movie (which had no success whatever in the U.K. and quickly disappeared, thus making the U.S. version the established cut of the film for decades. George Harrison's two contributions were the more striking of the new entries -- "Only a Northern Song" was a leftover from the Sgt. Pepper's sessions, generated from a period in which the guitarist became increasingly fascinated with keyboards, especially the organ and the Mellotron (and, later, the synthesizer). It's an odd piece of psychedelic ersatz, mixing trippiness and some personal comments. Its lyrics (and title) on the one hand express the guitarist/singer/composer's displeasure at being tied in his publishing to Northern Songs, a company in which John Lennon and Paul McCartney were the majority shareholders; and, on the other, they present Harrison's vision of how music and recording sounded, from the inside-out and the outside-in, during the psychedelic era -- the song thus provided a rare glimpse inside the doors of perception of being a Beatle (or, at least, one aspect of being this particular Beatle) circa 1967. And then there was the jewel of the new songs, "It's All Too Much." Coming from the second half of 1967, the song -- resplendent in swirling Mellotron, larger-than-life percussion, and tidal waves of feedback guitar -- was a virtuoso excursion into otherwise hazy psychedelia, and was actually superior in some respects to "Blue Jay Way," Harrison's songwriting contribution to The Magical Mystery Tour; the song also later rated a dazzling cover by Steve Hillage in the middle of the following decade. The very fact that George Harrison was afforded two song slots and a relatively uncompetitive canvas for his music shows how little the project meant to Lennon and McCartney -- as did the cutting of the "Hey Bulldog" sequence from the movie, apparently with no resistance from Lennon, who had other, more important artistic fish to fry in 1968. What is here, however, is a good enough reason for owning the record, though nothing rates it as anything near a high-priority purchase. The album would have been far better value if it had been released as a four-song EP (an idea the Beatles even considered at one point, with the addition of a bonus track in "Across the Universe" but ultimately discarded).

tags: the beatles, yellow submarine, 1969, flac,

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The Beatles - Help! (1965)

*Stereo version. 
Original first pressing on C.D.

Country: United Kingdom
Genre: Rock

Label Number: CDP 7 46439 2

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© 1965-1987 Parlophone Records
AllMusic Review by Stephen Thomas Erlewine
Considering that Help! functions as the Beatles' fifth album and as the soundtrack to their second film -- while filming, they continued to release non-LP singles on a regular basis -- it's not entirely surprising that it still has some of the weariness of Beatles for Sale. Again, they pad the album with covers, but the Bakersfield bounce of "Act Naturally" adds new flavor (along with an ideal showcase for Ringo's amiable vocals) and "Dizzy Miss Lizzy" gives John an opportunity to flex his rock & roll muscle. George is writing again and if his two contributions don't touch Lennon and McCartney's originals, they hold their own against much of their British pop peers. Since Lennon wrote a third more songs than McCartney, it's easy to forgive a pair of minor numbers ("It's Only Love," "Tell Me What You See"), especially since they're overshadowed by four great songs. His Dylan infatuation holds strong, particularly on the plaintive "You've Got to Hide Your Love Away" and the title track, where the brash arrangement disguises Lennon's desperation. Driven by an indelible 12-string guitar, "Ticket to Ride" is another masterpiece and "You're Going to Lose That Girl" is the kind of song McCartney effortlessly tosses off -- which he does with the jaunty "The Night Before" and "Another Girl," two very fine tunes that simply update his melodic signature. He did much better with "I've Just Seen a Face," an irresistible folk-rock gem, and "Yesterday," a simple, beautiful ballad whose arrangement -- an acoustic guitar supported by a string quartet -- and composition suggested much more sophisticated and adventurous musical territory, which the group immediately began exploring with Rubber Soul.

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The Beatles - Revolver (1966)

*Stereo version. 
Original first pressing on C.D.

Country: United Kingdom
Genre: Rock

Label; Number: CDP 7 46441 2

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© 1966-1987 Parlophone Records
AllMusic Review by Stephen Thomas Erlewine

All the rules fell by the wayside with Revolver, as the Beatles began exploring new sonic territory, lyrical subjects, and styles of composition. It wasn't just Lennon and McCartney, either -- Harrison staked out his own dark territory with the tightly wound, cynical rocker "Taxman"; the jaunty yet dissonant "I Want to Tell You"; and "Love You To," George's first and best foray into Indian music. Such explorations were bold, yet they were eclipsed by Lennon's trippy kaleidoscopes of sound. His most straightforward number was "Doctor Robert," an ode to his dealer, and things just got stranger from there as he buried "And Your Bird Can Sing" in a maze of multi-tracked guitars, gave Ringo a charmingly hallucinogenic slice of childhood whimsy in "Yellow Submarine," and then capped it off with a triptych of bad trips: the spiraling "She Said She Said"; the crawling, druggy "I'm Only Sleeping"; and "Tomorrow Never Knows," a pure nightmare where John sang portions of the Tibetan Book of the Dead into a suspended microphone over Ringo's thundering, menacing drumbeats and layers of overdubbed, phased guitars and tape loops. McCartney's experiments were formal, as he tried on every pop style from chamber pop to soul, and when placed alongside Lennon's and Harrison's outright experimentations, McCartney's songcraft becomes all the more impressive. The biggest miracle of Revolver may be that the Beatles covered so much new stylistic ground and executed it perfectly on one record, or it may be that all of it holds together perfectly. Either way, its daring sonic adventures and consistently stunning songcraft set the standard for what pop/rock could achieve. Even after Sgt. Pepper, Revolver stands as the ultimate modern pop album and it's still as emulated as it was upon its original release.

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The Beatles - Please Please Me (1963) ☠

*Stereo version. 
Original first pressing on C.D.

Country: United Kingdom
Genre: Rock

Label Number: CDP 7 46435 2
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☠: Selected by Buccaneer

© 1963-1987 Parlophone Records
AllMusic Review by Stephen Thomas Erlewine
Once "Please Please Me" rocketed to number one, the Beatles rushed to deliver a debut album, bashing out Please Please Me in a day. Decades after its release, the album still sounds fresh, precisely because of its intense origins. As the songs rush past, it's easy to get wrapped up in the sound of the record itself without realizing how the album effectively summarizes the band's eclectic influences. Naturally, the influences shine through their covers, all of which are unconventional and illustrate the group's superior taste. There's a love of girl groups, vocal harmonies, sophisticated popcraft, schmaltz, R&B, and hard-driving rock & roll, which is enough to make Please Please Me impressive, but what makes it astonishing is how these elements converge in the originals. "I Saw Here Standing There" is one of their best rockers, yet it has surprising harmonies and melodic progressions. "Misery" and "There's a Place" grow out of the girl group tradition without being tied to it. A few of their originals, such as "Do You Want to Know a Secret" and the pleasantly light "P.S. I Love You," have dated slightly, but endearingly so, since they're infused with cheerful innocence and enthusiasm. And there is an innocence to Please Please Me. The Beatles may have played notoriously rough dives in Hamburg, but the only way you could tell that on their first album was how the constant gigging turned the group into a tight, professional band that could run through their set list at the drop of a hat with boundless energy. It's no surprise that Lennon had shouted himself hoarse by the end of the session, barely getting through "Twist and Shout," the most famous single take in rock history. He simply got caught up in the music, just like generations of listeners did.

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The Beatles - Beatles For Sale (1964)

*Mono version. 
Original first pressing on C.D.

Country: United Kingdom
Genre: Rock

Label Number: CDP 7 46438 2 

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© 1964-1987 Parlophone Records
AllMusic Review by Stephen Thomas Erlewine
It was inevitable that the constant grind of touring, writing, promoting, and recording would grate on the Beatles, but the weariness of Beatles for Sale comes as something of a shock. Only five months before, the group released the joyous A Hard Day's Night. Now, they sound beaten, worn, and, in Lennon's case, bitter and self-loathing. His opening trilogy ("No Reply," "I'm a Loser," "Baby's in Black") is the darkest sequence on any Beatles record, setting the tone for the album. Moments of joy pop up now and again, mainly in the forms of covers and the dynamic "Eight Days a Week," but the very presence of six covers after the triumphant all-original A Hard Day's Night feels like an admission of defeat or at least a regression. (It doesn't help that Lennon's cover of his beloved obscurity "Mr. Moonlight" winds up as arguably the worst thing the group ever recorded.) Beneath those surface suspicions, however, there are some important changes on Beatles for Sale, most notably Lennon's discovery of Bob Dylan and folk-rock. The opening three songs, along with "I Don't Want to Spoil the Party," are implicitly confessional and all quite bleak, which is a new development. This spirit winds up overshadowing McCartney's cheery "I'll Follow the Sun" or the thundering covers of "Rock & Roll Music," "Honey Don't," and "Kansas City/Hey-Hey-Hey-Hey!," and the weariness creeps up in unexpected places -- "Every Little Thing," "What You're Doing," even George's cover of Carl Perkins' "Everybody's Trying to Be My Baby" -- leaving the impression that Beatlemania may have been fun but now the group is exhausted. That exhaustion results in the group's most uneven album, but its best moments find them moving from Merseybeat to the sophisticated pop/rock they developed in mid-career.

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The Beatles - Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band (1967)

*Stereo version. 
Original first pressing on C.D.

Country: United Kingdom
Genre: Rock

Label Number: CDP 7 46442 2

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© 1967-1987 Parlophone Records
AllMusic Review by Stephen Thomas Erlewine
With Revolver, the Beatles made the Great Leap Forward, reaching a previously unheard-of level of sophistication and fearless experimentation. Sgt. Pepper, in many ways, refines that breakthrough, as the Beatles consciously synthesized such disparate influences as psychedelia, art-song, classical music, rock & roll, and music hall, often in the course of one song. Not once does the diversity seem forced -- the genius of the record is how the vaudevillian "When I'm 64" seems like a logical extension of "Within You Without You" and how it provides a gateway to the chiming guitars of "Lovely Rita." There's no discounting the individual contributions of each member or their producer, George Martin, but the preponderance of whimsy and self-conscious art gives the impression that Paul McCartney is the leader of the Lonely Hearts Club Band. He dominates the album in terms of compositions, setting the tone for the album with his unabashed melodicism and deviously clever arrangements. In comparison, Lennon's contributions seem fewer, and a couple of them are a little slight but his major statements are stunning. "With a Little Help From My Friends" is the ideal Ringo tune, a rolling, friendly pop song that hides genuine Lennon anguish, à la "Help!"; "Lucy in the Sky With Diamonds" remains one of the touchstones of British psychedelia; and he's the mastermind behind the bulk of "A Day in the Life," a haunting number that skillfully blends Lennon's verse and chorus with McCartney's bridge. It's possible to argue that there are better Beatles albums, yet no album is as historically important as this. After Sgt. Pepper, there were no rules to follow -- rock and pop bands could try anything, for better or worse. Ironically, few tried to achieve the sweeping, all-encompassing embrace of music as the Beatles did here.

tags: the beatles, sgt peppers lonely hearts club band, 1967, flac, sgt., pepper's,

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Cannibal Corpse - The Bleeding (1994)

Country: U.S.A
Genre: Death Metal

Label Number: CDZORRO 67
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© 1994 Metal Blade Records
AllMusic Review by Jason Birchmeier
The final album of the Chris Barnes era, The Bleeding continues the trajectory Cannibal Corpse had established during their early-'90s heyday, that being a progressively over-the-top approach to gore-themed death metal that pushed the envelope in every imaginable way, from cover art to song titles to the music itself. The cover art here, as usual, speaks for itself, as do elaborate song titles like "Stripped, Raped, and Strangled," "Staring Through the Eyes of the Dead," and "Force Fed Broken Glass." (Though it's probably obvious, it's worth noting for novices that this stuff isn't for the lighthearted and shouldn't be taken too seriously, even if songs titles like "She Was Asking for It" perhaps go too far, even for this genre.) However, it's the music itself that is perhaps most notable, or at least what should be, especially given the key addition of guitarist Rob Barrett (in place of Bob Rusay), who co-writes a number of songs and plays on all of them. Ace producer Scott Burns gives the album a wonderful sheen that instantly sets Cannibal Corpse apart from most of the other death metal bands out there in 1994. The riffs absolutely grind, just as the rhythms pulverize and the vocals thunder. And it's indeed the thundering vocals of Barnes that make The Bleeding so special, definitely one of the standout death metal albums of the mid-'90s -- he's one of the best growlers in the business, and his subsequent departure (to join Six Feet Under) would be a gaping one, albeit one that wouldn't prevent Cannibal Corpse from lumbering on for many more years with their colorful madness.

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Cannibal Corpse - Vile (1996)

Country: U.S.A
Genre: Death Metal
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© 1996 Metal Blade Records
AllMusic Review by Vincent Jeffries
Released on Metal Blade in 1996, Vile is the first Cannibal Corpse recording to feature vocalist George "Corpsegrinder" Fisher. The band had built up a considerable following within the death metal community, and that success continued as Fisher brought a vocal dynamism and character that livened up the band's six-year-old sound. Fisher's ability to match the musical intensity and rhythm of Vile's more complicated assemblages of riffs created a more sophisticated yet equally tortuous essence. Both the album art and song titles -- while gruesome to the extreme -- were somewhat toned down when compared to earlier Cannibal Corpse efforts. The band members might have been put off by so many accusations of novelty, and intent on proving their worth as musicians. Vile demonstrates a commitment to musical growth: Tracks like "Devoured by Vermin" and "Bloodlands" feature more complex, focused, and just plain interesting musical ideas as well as precise execution. Fans of death metal who haven't yet discovered Cannibal Corpse would be wise to give Vile an open-minded listen, in order to understand how this group has managed to pull off thousands of successful shows and maintain such a rabid following.

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Cannibal Corpse - Tomb of The Mutilated (1992)

Country: U.S.A
Genre: Death Metal

Label Number: 3984-14003-2
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© 1992 Metal Blade Records
AllMusic Review by Vincent Jeffries

Released in 1992, Tomb of the Mutilated helped establish Cannibal Corpse's reputation as one of metal's goriest, most vile outfits. Boasting some of the sickest album art and song titles of all time, the band's attention-getting tactics worked perfectly and record sales soared. Cannibal Corpse then became one of the biggest names in the death metal genre -- just as the group's discs and live performances were being banned all over the world. Listeners unfamiliar with the belching vocal style and pummeling drum and guitar attack typical of death metal probably won't understand what separates this or any other record that adheres so stringently to the genre's formula, but learned fans have come to appreciate Tomb of the Mutilated as a solid, if not important, offering. Vocalist Chris Barnes' constant barrage of Cookie Monster-esque lowdown grunting is pretty much unintelligible throughout, leaving his gross-out lyrics offensive only to those who read them. However, the effect works nicely and maintains tradition. Standout tracks include "Beyond the Cemetery" -- which boasts the record's best riffs -- and speedier cuts like "Split Wide Open" and "The Cryptic Stench." Generally not taken seriously in many metal quarters due to their fascination with cartoonish gore, Cannibal Corpse somehow managed to outlast many of their more critically accepted contemporaries due in no small part to early career efforts like Tomb of the Mutilated, with its powerful musical focus.

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HIM - Love Metal (Limited Edition) (2003)

*Limited edition released on Digipack. 

Contains 1 bonus track.

Contains 11 tracks total.

Country: Finland
Language: English
Genre: Gothic Rock

Label Number: 82876 505042

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© 2003 BMG Finland/Terrier/RCA Records
AllMusic Review by Rob Theakston
A lot of people have the propensity to give H.I.M. unnecessary doses of grief simply because of the band's friendship and professional allegiance to pro skater Bam Margera. What's unfortunate about this is that H.I.M. actually produces dramatic metal of high sonic quality, and once again Love Metal further reinforces that notion. Going one better than Razorblade Romance, Ville Valo and company waste no time bringing out the big guns with "Buried Alive By Love," which easily measures up to the group's most well-known moments. The songwriting is as strong as it has been in quite some time and a newly found sense of urgency keeps the record going at a well-tempered pace. For die-hard fans, this is the album H.I.M. has been struggling to make and realize for quite a while, and even the aforementioned detractors of the group would be well served by giving this record a spin.

tags: him, h.i.m., love metal, limited edition, 2003,

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Electric Wizard - Black Masses (2010) ☠

Country: United Kingdom
Genre: Doom Metal

Label Number: RISECD130

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© 2010 Rise Above Records
AllMusic Review by Eduardo Rivadavia
What seemed like a one-time sonic detour on Electric Wizard's sixth album, Witchcult Today, was shown to be a concerted shift in aesthetic by its similarly conjured 2010 successor, Black Masses. On both releases, the hallowed Dorset doomsters once again sped up their typically creeping tempos and replaced their bowel-loosening bottom end for a slightly leaner, snarling guitar sound that opened some space for more prominent vocals, yet was often slathered in a ghostly feedback shroud. Change…it happens, and that means Electric Wizard fans will simply have to take or leave their heroes' latest direction and newfound sense of urgency, all of which are generously represented here by the bulldozer of a title track "Venus in Furs" (not a cover of the Velvet Underground classic, believe it or not) and "The Nightchild" (boasting oddly horn-like accompaniments). All three of these cuts inevitably lock into a hypnotic, insistent cadence over which vocalist Jus Oborn proceeds to moan and wail disconsolately while simultaneously weaving his seismic guitar parts in morbid harmony with those of Liz Buckingham -- now his longest tenured bandmate, given the debut of a new rhythm section in bassist Tas and drummer Shaun Rutter on this release. And, though no less energetic than the aforementioned songs (by historic Electric Wizard standards, anyway), the supremely wicked twosome of "Patterns of Evil" and "Turn off Your Mind" finally see almighty riffing overwhelm the otherwise dominant grooves as they always would in the past. Yet, amazingly, "Satyr IX" and "Scorpio Curse" are the only traditional doom grinds on display, and it must be said the first sounds pretty uneventful and tired, arguably justifying the band's wish to move on to something else, creatively speaking. Finally, the album closing instrumental, "Crypt of Drugula," joins a long string of sinister, soundtrack-like drones spread across Electric Wizard's formidable canon, proving that the group's blackened soul certainly remains fundamentally unchanged. And perhaps it is this partial reconnection with those roots that elevates Black Masses above the preceding Witchcult Today, and will surely remind fans why Electric Wizard's shadow still looms dark over the entire new millennium doom universe.

tags: electric wizard, black masses, limited edition, 2010, flac,

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D'Angelo - Voodoo (2000) ☠

Country: U.S.A,
Genre: R&B, Neo Soul

Label Number: 7243 8 48499 2 4

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☠: Selected by Lass

© 2000 Virgin/Cheeba Sound
Review by John Bush for Allmusic.com
Five years after his Brown Sugar album helped launch contemporary R&B, D'Angelo finally returned with his sophomore effort, Voodoo. His soulful voice is just as sweet as it was on Brown Sugar, though D'Angelo stretches out with a varied cast of collaborators, including trumpeter Roy Hargrove and guitarist Charlie Hunter, fellow neo-soul stars Lauryn Hill and Raphael Saadiq, and hip-hop heads like DJ Premier, Method Man & Redman, and Q-Tip. It must have been difficult to match his debut (and the frequent delays prove it was on his mind), but Voodoo is just as rewarding a soul album as D'Angelo's first.

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Britney Spears - Britney (2001)

Country: U.S.A
Genre: Pop

Label Number: 01241-41776-2

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© 2001 Jive Records
AllMusic Review by Stephen Thomas Erlewine
The title says it all -- that this third album is where it's all about Britney. Actually, the titles say it all: Britney is "Overprotected," she pleads "I'm Not a Girl, Not Yet a Woman," tries to let us all see "What It's Like to Be Me." All three songs are pivotal moments on Britney Spears' third album, the record where she strives to deepen her persona (not the same thing as her character, of course), making it more adult while still recognizably Britney. That much was evident from the selection of the first single, "I'm a Slave 4 U," a sultry Neptunes-produced salute to Prince that is so far removed from the big, glitzy Max Martin productions that are her signature that at first it sounds awkward, even wrong. As it grows, it sounds like one of her best singles -- a skittering, spare funk number that is a perfect next move for her teasing, unformed sexiness. Such a departure seems to signal a full album of surprises like that, especially when teamed with the aforementioned title, but Britney isn't that bold -- after it opens with the Neptunes' retro-future funk, it delves right back into Martin territory with "Overprotected." At first, that's a disappointment, but then the small, yet significant, changes become apparent. Rhythmically and melodically, the whole album is sharper, tougher than what came before. What used to be unabashedly frothy has some disco grit, underpinned by Spears' spunky self-determination that helps sell hooks that are already catchier, by and large, than those that populated her previous two albums. While there's no denying that this reinvention and statement of dogged individuality is no doubt a calculated move (and a brilliant, timely one at that), there's no denying that it's effective, in large part because Spears is committed to making this record work. She's co-written more songs than ever before, and these are strong selections, whether it's the hard-edged "Lonely," the sweet "That's Where You Take Me," or, especially, the neo-disco "Anticipating," one of the pure delights on this record. These are small steps forward -- really, the most overt steps forward are the collaborations with the Neptunes on "Slave" and "Boys," which are the sexiest sounding cuts she ever did -- but most of the Martin productions sound fuller (particularly the Dido-written ballad "I'm Not a Girl"), and Rodney Jerkins offers some welcome rhythmic invention on many of his contributions. This isn't a perfect record -- Martin stumbles on "Bombastic Love," Jerkins drops the ball on "I Love Rock N Roll" (this year's entry of the now obligatory cringe-inducing classic rock by Ms. Spears) -- but it does sound like the work of a star who has now found and refined her voice, resulting in her best record yet (and rivaling Mandy Moore's eponymous album as the best teen-pop record yet released). It's enough of a reinvention to suggest that Britney will know what to do when the teen-pop phenomenon of 1999-2001 passes for good.

tags: britney spears, britney album, flac, 2001,

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Mayhem - Deathcrush (1987)

Country: Norway
Language: English
Genre: Black Metal
Style: Norwegian Black Metal

Label Number: ANTI-MOSH 003
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© 1987-1993 Deathlike Silence Productions
*No professional reviews available for this release.

tags: mayhem, deathcrush, death crush, deathcrush ep, 1987, 1993, flac,

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Mayhem - De Mysteriis Dom Sathanas (1994)

Country: Norway
Language: English
Genre: Black Metal
Style: Norwegian Black Metal

Label Number: 7767-2
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© 1994 Century Black
AllMusic Review by Steve Huey
Released to acclaim after Euronymous' death, this is the most readily available Mayhem album in America. The music is fast and furious, and the stomach-turning vocals are unintelligible, but Mayhem avoids being simply standard by making subtle changes in their sound throughout the album and not falling into a rut or repeating themselves, as too many other black metal bands tend to do. This album may require a bit of patience, but it is worth it.

tags: mayhem, de mysteriis dom sathanas, 1994, flac,

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Cannibal Corpse - Butchered At Birth (1991)

Country: U.S.A
Genre: Death Metal

Label Number: CAROL CD 2204
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© 1991 Caroline, Death Records
AllMusic Review by Alex Henderson
In the early '90s, Cannibal Corpse acquired a small cult in the death metal underground by embracing some of the most gruesome lyrics the subgenre had to offer. Thriving on shock value, the band inspires comparisons to GWAR and comes across as a parody of death metal and grindcore more than anything. Like its previous album, the equally twisted Eaten Back to Life, Butchered at Birth addresses such lurid topics as dismemberment, torture, and masochism. One will need the lyric sheet to know just how gross songs like "Under the Rotted Flesh," "Meat Hook Sodomy," "Covered with Sores," and "Rancid Amputation" are -- the grunting vocals are impossible to understand. Some retailers refused to carry this CD because of its depiction of a woman being mutilated by zombies, and Cannibal Corpse wasted no time getting as much publicity as possible from the controversy. The rockers are one-dimensional, but then, they never claimed to be anything else. This band's obvious goal was to deliver the musical equivalent of B-movie horror flick, and on that level, the album is outrageously successful.

tags: cannibal corpse, butchered at birth, 1991,

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Cannibal Corpse - Eaten Back To Life (2002 Remastered Edition)

*Reissued and remastered in 2002 by Metal Blade Records. 

Contain 12 tracks total.

Country: U.S.A
Genre: Death Metal

Label Number: 3984-14425-2
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© 1990-2002 Metal Blade Records
AllMusic Review by Leslie Mathew
Cannibal Corpse emerged fully formed out of Florida's famous death metal swamp with this one. All the trademarks are in place, from the B-horror movie album cover art to the ludicrously over the top lyrics -- "Brains devoured in a frenzied slaughter, thirst for gore nothing more/Bile is dripping, puss from wounds, as the coroner drinks it down." Chris Barnes growls his vocals like Satan on a diet of razor blades and paint thinner. The playing is uniformly savage and, alas, uniformly one-dimensional. On paper Cannibal Corpse are the perfect death metal act, but in reality, their pursuit of lyrical and musical extremes was something of a joke from this first release on. Too many tempo changes; too much monochromatic double-bass slugging; not nearly enough variety, texture, or interesting guitar work. Cannibal Corpse's single-minded devotion to their cause is admirable; too bad the results of that dedication are not very interesting. Eaten Back to Life isn't much more than death metal for dummies. Try Deicide (whose vocalist Glen Benton guests on background vocals here) instead.

tags: cannibal corpse, eaten back to life, 1990, 2002, remastered, remaster, flac,

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