Scrap Metal V.2
Riding Easy Records
If you’ve heard any of Riding Easy’s early psychedelic collection, you may be saddened that that cupboard is now bare, and there are no more cool psych rock tracks in their extensive archives. But the good news is they are now moving to the early era of metal with another collection of wonderful obscurities.
Scrap Metal V.2 opens strong with the hard rocking “Running For the Line” by JJ’s Powerhouse. It’s clean, fast, and a solid head-banging workout. Play it in your car, and you won’t be able to drive 55 — listen at your own risk. Next up Jameson Raid’s “It’s A Crime” opens with some weird guitar chords, and the singer has the unexpected ability to make his voice sound like a slipping guitar string when he sings. I don’t know how else to explain the vocal trick, but you need to hear it. A.R.C.‘s “Homemade Wine” is an early punk tune. It’s a speed metal guitar track, and a vocal that sounds like its sung by the bass player. Heady stuff, this basement brew. Next we go cerebral with “The Raven” by Metropolis. This gem is filled with lyrics about dying embers and a serious guitar workout. There’s no overdub or other studio tricks, they just play it hard, and we like It like that. Christian Steel’s “Need Your Love” is almost a love song, but with that macho misogynist angle that all good hard rock hearkens back to. Politically correct? No way. It’s metal! Lastly I’ll spin Dark Age’s “Star Trippin’.” Yes, the title sounds like an early Deep Purple hit, but this track has a female vocal, always a rarity in this genre. Yes, the singer sounds like a boy just hitting puberty, but she knows how to rock.
I’ve had good experience with the early psychedelic packages from Riding Easy, and this collection is every bit as good, it just points in a different direction. What can we expect in the future? I’d suggest disco and electronica, but I don’t call the shots here. Right now I see a long, fruitful run of early hard rock, and I love it. ◼
