Earth Crisis
Last of the Sane
Victory
Wudda y•know, the estimable Earth Crisis return with a stopgap collection of covers and demos, Last of the Sane. Among the covers: a stark-raving-mad run-through of the Misfits• proto-metal-core •Earth A.D.•; a heady stab at Sabbath•s •Children of the Grave,• where frontman Karl Buechner excellently exercises his newfound clean tenor, at times really, really recalling Ozzy; an on-paper ill-advised attempt at the Stones• •Paint It Black,• which somehow • don•t know how, seriously • works, and well; and, kicking things off, •Hell Awaits Intro,• which • you guessed it • is a spot-on replication of Slayer•s demonic opener to Hell Awaits. On the demos end of things, the Crisis kids offer up four barnstormers from the Gomorrah•s Season Ends sessions in •96, one of which (•The Order•) appeared on the Stones to Mark the Free benefit compilation for imprisoned animal rights activist Rod Coronado, all four cuts pretty much sounding exactly like that album•s outcome. Loud record, quiet triumph • and certainly more enjoyable than the preceding Slither experiment.
Victory Records, P.O. Box 146546, Chicago, IL 60614, http://www.victoryrecords.com
