Rampage
Cummin' atcha LIVE
[Unsung Heroes]
When a CD starts off with the singer growling "Only death is real!"
before the music starts, you know it's going to be great metal. The
opener "Bloody Leg" is proto death metal, reminds me of good early 80s
demo bands like Death, Massacre, Slaughter. Next track "Born in Hell (on
the Bayou)" is more frantic, with Lord Vic flying his fingers on the
guitar with a totally cool riff, but then halfway it becomes the CCR
classic, sort of. It's cheesy so I like it.
"DeadRot" sees Vic raunch out his growls even more, as he cranks out more grindy death metal, sort of a cross between Slaughter and Repulsion or Sadus. "Satanic Death" is a classic tune, as great as the underground stuff I heard around the time "Hell Awaits" was out. The riffs, solos, raunchy gory vocals, are so fuckin cool, it's hard to believe I haven't heard of Rampage sooner. "The Gates of The Abyss" is a moshy / headbanging tune and one of my favourites. Here, I finally figured out why I like Lord Vic's singing. It's raunched out, but it reminds me of Paul Baloff of Exodus! Fuckin A! Especially with the doubled riff in the chorus! "Cocksucker" is a very short grindcore ditty, and useless, but is a diversion, before covering the VENOM classic "Buried Alive". While the production may have a beefier guitar sound, Vic ain't no Cronos. It's passable, but try to picture an undeveloped Baloff singin it. Then strange as it seems, it turns into DIRE STRAITS' "Money For Nothing"! Hahaha! Man, I pissed my pants laughing. This pops out after all that intense metal?! RAMPAGE is a band that likes to have fun. "Six Bells at Midnight" is supposed to be the last track of the 'live' set, and is as heavy as SLAUGHTER or CELTIC FROST (Morbid Tales-era), what a brutal crunchy sound they get out of their guitars.
The CD has 6 more bonus tracks. "Rampage" is a classic headbanger, get my head shakin, and makes me remember the days of moshing and diving, and even earlier, fistbangin! (Haha, will anyone besides me, admit to doing that??) "Ticket to Hell" is doomy, with a simplistic descending main riff. Nothing beats primitive metal like this (I still recall the days when real metalheads would state 'Hellhammer is God', only to have metal "musicians" laugh). Thing is, there are some tricky solos, licks here and there in Rampage's releases, so it's obvious they WANT to keep it simple stupid. I can't stand super- technical jazzy death metal like Athiest or what Death turned into.... bo-ring! "The Round Mound of Rebound" is sort of silly, with a pre- chorus of 'bitch,slut,whore'. Next up, "Twisted Minds", the classic POSSESSED song, and done quite well in my opinion, but NO ONE can do justice to it. Only Jeff Becerra's vocals, his and his alone make the song evil. Good attempt though. "Storm Over Avalon" is a new song, from the forthcoming "Bellum Infinitum" CD due out January 2000 I think. Whoah, hold on. The guitars, the full bassy demo-type sound is the same, but this is like traditional metal like old Iron Maiden (Killers/Number of the Beast era). And the singing is shaky. If you want to sing classy, use the same conviction and power as the death metal style. Not a bad song at all, glad it was more instrument-based as the vocals need improvement. Last track, "Wanderlust" starts off sort of slow, mellow gloomy, and the quiet traditional vocals work, then a 'Killer'-type riff kicks it into high gear. RAMPAGE could be what this world needs, some good straight on heavy metal, but we'll see what the next Maiden CD with Dickinson is like, before I jump to conclusions, plus during the twin solo attack bum notes are played, this is a live take keep in mind, no overdubs.
There you go. Rampage's Cummin' atcha LIVE, recorded July 1999. I'm glad I ordered it.
© 1999 mlotek
"DeadRot" sees Vic raunch out his growls even more, as he cranks out more grindy death metal, sort of a cross between Slaughter and Repulsion or Sadus. "Satanic Death" is a classic tune, as great as the underground stuff I heard around the time "Hell Awaits" was out. The riffs, solos, raunchy gory vocals, are so fuckin cool, it's hard to believe I haven't heard of Rampage sooner. "The Gates of The Abyss" is a moshy / headbanging tune and one of my favourites. Here, I finally figured out why I like Lord Vic's singing. It's raunched out, but it reminds me of Paul Baloff of Exodus! Fuckin A! Especially with the doubled riff in the chorus! "Cocksucker" is a very short grindcore ditty, and useless, but is a diversion, before covering the VENOM classic "Buried Alive". While the production may have a beefier guitar sound, Vic ain't no Cronos. It's passable, but try to picture an undeveloped Baloff singin it. Then strange as it seems, it turns into DIRE STRAITS' "Money For Nothing"! Hahaha! Man, I pissed my pants laughing. This pops out after all that intense metal?! RAMPAGE is a band that likes to have fun. "Six Bells at Midnight" is supposed to be the last track of the 'live' set, and is as heavy as SLAUGHTER or CELTIC FROST (Morbid Tales-era), what a brutal crunchy sound they get out of their guitars.
The CD has 6 more bonus tracks. "Rampage" is a classic headbanger, get my head shakin, and makes me remember the days of moshing and diving, and even earlier, fistbangin! (Haha, will anyone besides me, admit to doing that??) "Ticket to Hell" is doomy, with a simplistic descending main riff. Nothing beats primitive metal like this (I still recall the days when real metalheads would state 'Hellhammer is God', only to have metal "musicians" laugh). Thing is, there are some tricky solos, licks here and there in Rampage's releases, so it's obvious they WANT to keep it simple stupid. I can't stand super- technical jazzy death metal like Athiest or what Death turned into.... bo-ring! "The Round Mound of Rebound" is sort of silly, with a pre- chorus of 'bitch,slut,whore'. Next up, "Twisted Minds", the classic POSSESSED song, and done quite well in my opinion, but NO ONE can do justice to it. Only Jeff Becerra's vocals, his and his alone make the song evil. Good attempt though. "Storm Over Avalon" is a new song, from the forthcoming "Bellum Infinitum" CD due out January 2000 I think. Whoah, hold on. The guitars, the full bassy demo-type sound is the same, but this is like traditional metal like old Iron Maiden (Killers/Number of the Beast era). And the singing is shaky. If you want to sing classy, use the same conviction and power as the death metal style. Not a bad song at all, glad it was more instrument-based as the vocals need improvement. Last track, "Wanderlust" starts off sort of slow, mellow gloomy, and the quiet traditional vocals work, then a 'Killer'-type riff kicks it into high gear. RAMPAGE could be what this world needs, some good straight on heavy metal, but we'll see what the next Maiden CD with Dickinson is like, before I jump to conclusions, plus during the twin solo attack bum notes are played, this is a live take keep in mind, no overdubs.
There you go. Rampage's Cummin' atcha LIVE, recorded July 1999. I'm glad I ordered it.
© 1999 mlotek