THE BEST OF METAL BLADE, Volume 2 (Metal Blade, 1987)

Just received my copy of The Best of Metal Blade, Volume 2, the vinyl edition from 1987. Which I ordered from Amazon last Wednesday and which I was expecting to arrive in much better shape. As the seller had listed it: Used - Very Good I was expecting barely noticeable wear but was shocked when I noticed how fucked up the jacket was. 

On the comments, the seller had noted that 'binding is frayed' which I do not recall reading when I made the purchase and which I must add, is an understatement. The binding is completely fucked up, sliced open and barely holds both sides together. The lettering in the spine is totally gone. Clearly, this is not the result of weathering but of an attack en masse of moths, termites or some other cardboard-loving parasite. When I opened the gatefold a sheet of dust covered it all. It was like one of those movies when the starring character discovers an ancient tome and blows on it just so that he can see what the title is. I am pretty sure this record has not been played in well over a decade.

The seller also added 'some slight wear on cover' which yeah, is quite accurate. What he failed to comment on was the state of the record sleeves. Both were ripped and yellow and in both instances the records were portruding at the bottom. The records play fine but both have light to heavy wear which the seller also failed to comment on. Oh well. These records and I go back in time and I guess I can't ask for gold when all I am paying is $17.

A couple of decades ago, my older brother was the proud owner of Volume 1, which included Celtic Frost, Bitch, Nasty Savage, Hirax, Pandemonium, Slayer, Omen, Fates Warning, Tyrant and several others and which was an absolute rarity in South America. As I kid I worshiped this compilation. Since my brother was much older and made good use of his dickish character  every chance he got I was not allowed to go anywhere near his vinyl collection. But I couldn't have given less of a fuck. Every time he'd go off to school or work I'd dive straight in, usually spinning Volume 1, or a few other personal favorites from his collection like Celtic Frost's Into the Pandemonium (which I now own after having stolen it from him sometime in the late 90's), Manilla Road's Open the Gates or Grim Reaper's Fear No Evil.

It was either in 1989 or in 1990 that a local record company issued a series of metal releases on cassette format. One of their releases was The Best of Metal Blade Volume 2. But in typical local fashion they managed to screw it up in every possible way. I bought the tape as soon as it hit the market. To say that it looked cheap would be to praise it. Instead of releasing two cassettes like the American version, only the first record was issued. If they had to pick one out of two for budgetary reasons it made sense, as the first record is where the most quality acts were; Slayer, Sodom, Slayer, Detente, Hirax, Hallow's Eve, as opposed to Sound Barrier, Krank, Cities, Exxplorer and Juggernaut.

But that wasn't it. The cassette had no info on it. There was only one panel with one side printed; the cover, which listed just a few of the bands and on the reverse we could find song titles but no band names. My favorite songs of this half compilation were Sodom's incredible "Deathlike Silence" and "Holy War", which I had no idea who played it. For the longest time I thought it was Tyrranicide but a few years ago I came to find out it was Detente. 

I am listening to the second record right now and with a few exceptions it ranks right above decent. The fourth half starts off with a horrendous live rendition of "Live and Let Die" by Lizzy Borden and that is a guilty pleasure I could have never envisioned had I not purchased this record. Even if it is in such a horrid state, it was $17 well-spent.