ALBUM RECOMMENDATIONS |

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The old five-point scale has been retired in favor of just rating stuff 1-10, which allows me a much more nuanced final rating. Still don't take it that seriously. Most of these come from my own collection, so the grades skew rather high. Your results may vary if you send me stuff to review.

Each album is given three Essential tracks, my personal favorites, regardless of how weird and inconsequential they are. The Quintessential pick is the one I think best represents the album as a whole, so you can try one song instead of a whole album of songs. Non-Essential picks range from merely disappointing to outright unlistenable.

Misfits

[#] Earth A.D./Wolfs Blood (1983)

Reviewed October 13, 2020

A haunted house where all the monsters have ADHD and just saw a squirrel.

(This is an album that was previously covered on the Rediscovering! Click the link in the table to read a wordier and possibly less accurate version of my feelings on this album.)

The final word from the notorious Misfits before their dissolution in 1983, Earth A.D./Wolfs Blood plays fast and brutal. Even in an expanded set with the "Die, Die My Darling" single tacked onto the end, the whole thing lasts a mere 22 minutes. What does it accomplish in those few minutes? A lot of noise, a lot of speed, and a lot of demons and zombies. If you're into classic horror stuff and you like your punk on the heavy and thrashy side, you'll love this thing, but for me personally, I didn't get a whole lot out of it. This is an album I appreciate a lot more than I like, but that hardly means it's bad or that I didn't have favorites.

Despite the pretty standard 80s heavy music mix with its thin drums and near-inaudible bass, Earth A.D. definitely slays with the nasty, sewage-thick guitar tone and breakneck speed on display on tracks like "Death Comes Ripping" and "Devilock". Danzig is perhaps the best guy to sing this stuff--his mouth is marbled and his words garbled like the subject of a 50s creature feature, and Robo lives up to his name with the precision in his bullet train drumwork. I totally get why people are into this, but for me, it's too short and not quite song-oriented enough to be something I can get into, hence it getting a toss during the Rediscovering. It was a very, very soft toss though--and it's no surprise original copies of the "Die, Die My Darling" single go for $60 apiece on Discogs, because it's the best thing on here.

Essential:	Quintessential:	Non-Essential:	Rating:
"Earth A.D.", "Death Comes Ripping", "Die, Die My Darling"	"Green Hell"	"Wolfs Blood"
Earth A.D./Wolfs Blood's Rediscovering entry

NOFI | LOFI