The Urge - Master of Styles

Thrash, ska, reggae dub and cool melodic vocals. Basically the soundtrack to my high school experience. I always likened the Urge to a more metal, anthemic Fishbone almost like a power metal take on The Harder They Come. All their albums are pretty great but this one has the hits. Perfect summertime smok'ndrink music!
P.S. Voxalist Steve Ewing has a sweet hot dog joint in the STL, that is delish, especially that Gorilla Mac'n'Cheese dawg...talk about Receiving the Gift of Flavor!

Listen

Strangulated Beatoffs - Reverse Child Psychology

Amaaazing, the complete full-length of these psychedelic weirdos Reverse Child Psychology...makes me damn proud to be a native StLouisan!

Psychopath - 5-Song Advance

Thanks to a fellow Psychopath maniac I now have in my greedy little digital palms the rarest of the rare...the 5 song Psychopath advance demo recorded one year after their monumental (and only) full-length, Making The Transition. As high as I hold MTT, I have to say that this is better...more fully realized songs, biting guitar tone, and an atmosphere that unparallels it from nearly any other thrash band that has ever lived!! The genius that was everpresent on MTT is only ramped up and refined...taking the progdeath and cyber-swagger of latter Death circa Symbolic and Voivod circa Negatron (weird since this recording precedes both those albums) and distilling them into an urban mindmeld all their own. The guitars are somehow both punishing and ambient allowing for passages that explore a sense of spatial emotion that is SOOOooo left-field of typical death/thrash that I can't help but get a wicked smile on my face while I'm listening. Be it the Ved Buens Ende-esque sweeping dissonance of "Mother To The Silhouettes" or the syncopated-ride thrash double breaks of the outstanding "Counterparts", I am flat out blown away.
This Promo tape has quickly secured a special place in my personal thrash pantheon, sitting proudly alongside fellow progressive worldbeaters' Voivod, Iceburn, Prong, Depressive Age, and fellow St. Louisans Anacrusis. ABSOLUTELY ESSENTIAL!!!!!!!!

5-Song Advance

Ornament of Disgrace

I think if this demo would've come out nowadays it would go over huge. OOD's brand of technical murky Incantation/Portal type death metal is on the uprise, but back at the turn of the century, it was definitely not de rigueur. These 5 songs are actually pretty great, interesting riffs with a trebly guitar tone and drumming that at times can get super abstract (really cool cymbal work), which helps give everything an avant-garde ritualistic type of vibe. I actually designed a logo for this band.  It was fuckin' tight with lots of spikes and snakes, but they went with this lame ass logo instead. No accounting for taste I suppose.
PS this is not the demo listed on Metal Archives...I got this in 2001 or thereabouts.

Ornament of Disgrace

Rowsdower - Demo 2011

I just found out about this stoner-psyche band from the good ol' STL. That they call themselves Rowsdower (after the infamous character Zap from MST3K's riff-tastic treatment of oddball Canadian cult fav The Final Sacrifice) is just the icing on the cake. Great guitar work, really cool stuff!
Download the full demo provided by the band here.

Red Foxx - Sly Sex

Oh Mr. Foxx you raunchy old devil...I wiiiish I coulda been in the crowd for this recording. It sounds like so much fun!! All the hootin' and hollerin' and cat-calls. Old Red barely has time to get to the punchline before people start laughing their asses off and falling out of their chairs...and I for sure would be doing the exact same thing cuz this is fucking hilarious material that holds up to todays standards. Let's just say it's my type of humor...working blue.

Sly Sexx

Head East - Flat As A Pancake

Sausage biscuits...Harleys...Flapjacks...Schlitz...strawberry wine...funk organ

If any or all of these things appeal to ya, you're going to love this album right here.

Flat As A Pancake

Psychopath - The Soul Personification Demo 1990

Found this gem at the Lockjaw blog the other day, and what can I say other than this is some real hotshit! Psychopath's Making the Transition should be held in the highest esteem by those who love idiosyncratic thrash magick.  These demos represent the first half of that album almost note for note; wrapped in that raw demo charm. ...so I guess the question is - how much charm can you take?

The Soul Personification

Psychopath - Making the Transition

Lost classick thrash long forgotten now found.

Synaptic release conduit underground.

Early nineties the sound of youth. 

Crystal clear and cuttin' loose. 

Puffy white sneakers lookin' brand new.

Play in the mud--Now they're through. 

Get your groove on to the bunny hop. 

Riff it up till they all fuckin' drop. 

Triplet staccato let'er rip. 

Nails in your coffin, now that's the trick! 

Mosh and groove is the creed indeed. 

Make the transition till your ears fucking bleed!!!  

Makin'

Powers Court - The Red Mist Of Endenmore

I almost went to this show at Just Bill's, but Just didn't cuz I had to do something lame like get to bed early for work.  Just Bill's was a real hole in the wall anyways.  The production on this album is really weird, especially the drums.  Just listen....it's like there's too much separation...something's off.  It does give the album it's own sound and identity which I don't altogether hate.  As far as power metal goes, this is top deck shit, and the chick's vox just slay, like a heavy metal Mama Cass.

The Red Mist of Endenmore

Timeghoul - Panaramic Twilight

Atmospheric death metal weirdness from Foristell (right down the road from St. Charles).  2 songs of full on dissonance, Skepticism, ghoulish grandeur and melody.  Choral chants sidle beside Nile type barks. Celestial intonations miasmize Funer-unreal guitar lines and good ol' shredding.  Imagine the first couple of Sacramentary Abolishment albums with less chaos and more twisted ambiance. With eerie death metal making a resurgence as of late, more bands should look to Timeghoul to see how this style was mastered.

Panasonic Twilight

Grand Ulena - Gateway To Dignity

Darrin Gray's (bassist for Dazzling Killmen) now defunct instrumental project. Def ain't for everyone but for those that like it brutal+prog, this be a dream come true.

Gateway To Dignity

Dazzling Killmen - Dig Out The Switch

Mucho passion, outta control without being sloppy, I think this is what people mean when they say "controlled chaos".  Also, does anyone remember a public access show called Critical Mass?  I sure as hell don't, but it looked real cool!

Dig Out The Switch

Megalith - Risen From the Grave

Deep from the hearts of South City comes the monolithic megatunes of Megalith.  These boys were loud and crude with bad attitudes.  FYI Rock is Sleaze again.

Risen from the grave

Anacrusis - Screams & Whispers

Anacrusis is a hidden gem, so underrated it should be a crime.  Lyrics smarter than a Wash U symposium, licks sweeter than a Ted Drewe's concrete, and chops tighter than a Ram's cheerleader's ass.

Screams und Whiskers

Gabriel For You & Yours

Gabriel and friend

This week I'm gonna post some of my favorites from the ol' StL, and will kick things off with a St. Louis institution...Gabriel for you and yours!  

I recorded this skit from Gabriel's show on KDHX during one night's bout of insomnia.  Not sure who this comedy duo is (I think one is named Baby Seals), and I don't think the humor has aged particularly well, but it's still hilarious.  

Go Ahead und Sing