The Flesh Eaters "Hand of Glory"

The Flesh Eaters Forever Came Today LP (Ruby Records/Slash Records, 1982)

The Flesh Eaters were one of the early L.A. punk bands. Much like (former) Misfits leader Glenn Danzig, frontman Chris D. (short for Desjardins) is obsessed with movies, horror flicks in particular, and pulled titles from films on a regular basis. The band name, for example, is a somewhat obscure 1964 film about a former Nazi scientist developing microscopic, flesh eating creatures on a remote island. Unlike Danzig, Chris D.'s voice takes some getting used to, and his last name is much more difficult to spell. Then again, Danzig isn't his birth name; it's Anzalone. Anyhow, I found Chris D.'s voice borderline unlistenable at first, but now I can't imagine The Flesh Eaters without that melodramatic, tortured yelp. Today's song is from the only album by The Flesh Eaters never issued on CD. Sadly, it is also their best album, in addition to being their third, and second for Ruby/Slash. When Warner Brothers bought Slash in the early 1980s, both albums by The Flesh Eaters, this one and its predecessor, A Minute to Pray, a Second to Die, were deleted. The latter was eventually reissued on CD in the 90s, but Forever Came Today has strangely remained locked away from the realm of aluminum and plastic. I had hope when the first and fourth, No Questions Asked and A Hard Road to Follow, were done up with deluxe reissues by Atavistic a few years back, but no such luck. Then again, those were released on Chris D.'s own label, Upsetter Records, so licensing probably wasn't a big issue. :-D Anyhow, all but four of the songs on Forever Came Today were used on the two Flesh Eaters collections released by SST Records in the early 90s: Greatest Hits: Destroyed by Fire and Prehistoric Fits. Naturally, I've picked one of the four that wasn't. Ain't I sweet? NOTE: Today's entry gets the before they were famous tag as that's future Los Lobos member Steve Berlin wailin' and screamin' on the sax.