Review: October 31 - Visions of the End | |||||||
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Visions of the End | |||||||
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Label: Old Metal Records Year released: 1999 Duration: 44:31 Tracks: 10 Genre: Heavy Metal Rating: Review online: July 26, 2002 Reviewed by: Michel Renaud |
Readers' Rating How do you rate this release? Rated 4/5 (80%) (22 Votes)
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Review | |||||||
After seeing October 31's excellent performance at this year's Classic Metal Fest, I took this CD out for another spin - just one of those that I had listened to a couple of times and then went on to other things. I wasn't too crazy about it before, but I guess it must have been a mood thing, because there's a lot of good material here that I happened to miss back then. This re-issue contains 10 tracks, 5 of which are bonus demo tracks. Unsurprisingly, these demo tracks are of lower sound quality and "inferior" production, but at least there's no volume variation, a problem that plagues some other releases that have demo tracks as bonuses, so they don't sound too much out of place. I think it is safe to say that the band's name is Halloween-related, and the themes are therefore a bit dark or horror-related, and that shows in the music as well - think 80s heavy metal (yeah!) with a somewhat dark feeling to it. King Fowley does a very good job on vocals. He also plays the drums on this, although nowadays he is focusing on the vocal duties alone. The guitars are raw and heavy, giving the music a brutal edge that in my opinion enhance the songs quite a bit. Two of the bonus tracks and one of the original tracks are actually well-executed covers of "Give 'Em the Axe" (Lizzy Borden), "Child of the Damned" (Warlord) and "Harder than Steel" (Jag Panzer). The booklet is pretty much in the Old Metal Records' tradition of minimal details, but this one does include the lyrics for the four songs from the original MCD release (the fifth song being a cover, as stated previously.) A very good CD that fans of classic metal should check out. I'm not sure how easy it is to find this album as it is a limited release on the now-defunct Old Metal Records label - check the band's web site. |
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More about October 31... | |||||||
Review: Bury the Hatchet (reviewed by MetalMike) Review: Gone to the Devil (reviewed by MetalMike) Review: Meet Thy Maker (reviewed by Michel Renaud) Review: Metal Massacre 31 (reviewed by MetalMike) Review: No Survivors (reviewed by Michel Renaud) Review: Stagefright (reviewed by Michel Renaud) | |||||||
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