Wednesday, May 23, 2012

Reactor - The Real World

REACTOR – The Real World(2009)
(Shadow Kingdom)




Digging around in boxes of cassettes from years gone by often yields pleasing surprises. Tapes that were considered gems that you thought you’d never hear again, get to be listened to and reevaluated through a cloud of nostalgia. If you have a record label, the thought of releasing material from forgotten days is entertained. Shadow Kingdom Records have turned those thoughts into reality by releasing material from 1983-1990 by Maryland metal band Reactor.

As to be expected with members, who were in Pentagram at some point , there are touches of Sabbath, pushing through at full strength in “War Machine” due to Ozzy vocals and a heavy underbelly of destroying riffs. It’s not difficult to gage the punkish “Meltdown” fitting into the time period of the first wave of American thrash metal. The chosen subject matter is also telling with the band’s social conscience coming to the fore covering terrorism, the arms race and corporations taking over work lives. These guys were probably coincidentally spinning the exact same NWOBHM records in synchronized time with Metallica. “The Terrorist” slows pace and concentrates more on melody using a very stripped bare to the bone structure. “The Real World” is that terrible Mister Mister song, “Broken Wing” on metallic based steroids and proves that mullets and leg warmers weren’t the only things better left in the 80’s. Proving that they were en route to suckdom, they went on to use the tepid song title as a band name.


It’s difficult to take in the tinny sound of “Greenhouse” and not think demo band and really as these are old unearthed recordings that’s exactly what Reactor were. I imagine Reactor were a big local drawcard but struggled to get audience numbers when they left town. The inclusion of eight live tracks ensures that the disc isn’t just a six track EP but the CD booklet really elevates the recording from demo status and is impressive as a looker and informative with liner notes, lyrics and band photos. Despite the packaging, this is still more one for the metal historians and archeologists than the run of the mill metal fan who will listen to this then shuffle it towards the back of the collection.

2.5/5

Monday, May 21, 2012

Sad Hard-ons News and more




I don't normally publish news but this is terrible news. Blackie from the Hard-ons was assaulted while working as a taxidriver and is currently in hospital.

From the band's site:

"None of it was his fault. The two assailants were arrested by police. Blackie has been in hospital since Thursday night with a skull fracture and 16 stitches, swelling on the brain. We will be there for a few days still, while the docs make sure all tests are done. Thankfully he has been moved from the critical room to where they keep stable patients. He does not remember all details but he is getting better every day. Not sure when he can play music again. We will know more in the coming days. He has already been told he cannot drive for 6 weeks due to his head trauma. Please send him a get-well message through facebook , he'll read it all when he gets out in a few days. I'm sure he'll get better soon. He is a pretty tough cookie. I've known him for many years and I know he wants to get back playing music again as soon as possible, but he will go with medical advice, it's gonna be best to give playing live for a while, so that he can fully recover and come back fitter than ever. Will keep everyone posted. By the way thanks for all those messages. I'll pass 'em on to Blackie and I'm sure he'll really appreciate them."

News story here


Much more up-to-date info is available from the Hard-ons facebook page




In other news, Chicago pop punkers The Projection have a free single and are giving away their album While You Were Out free to anyone in the military. You can grab their single, Florida here.


The small takeover on facebook

Beastwars - IV

After over a year off for various reasons, we have returned solely because we wanted to review the new Beastwars album. I really w...