大山脈Ｘ 「バルカン山脈」

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大山脈Ｘ
『組曲大山脈』
CDR
(Magaibutsu Limited, 1997)

One of the many million projects of drummer, vocalist, composer, insane genius Yoshida Tatsuya, 大山脈Ｘ were seemingly a one-off kinda thing, though they did make one compilation appearance in addition to this CDR. This release is one long piece of music, broken down into ten sections, each named for a specific mountain or mountain range. You see, 大山脈Ｘ means something like Massive Mountain X. The compilation track I mentioned above, by the way, is entitled Vesuvius, which is a mountain but also a volcano.

The line-up for this one is definitely on the slightly unique side. In addition to Yoshida on drums, voice, and keyboards (he can do all three simultaneously, and I've seen him do it live), there are two bass players (Jin Harada and Yokai Takahashi), a violinist (Yuji Katsui), and another vocalist (Mihashi Mikako).

『組曲大山脈』 was one of four CDRs that Yoshida released on Magaibutsu Limited, his own label. The others were a disc of improvisations by his drums and bass duo Ruins, and two solo discs.

The aforementioned compilation consists of nineteen tracks by twelve groups either featuring or lead by Yoshida, plus one solo piece.

Translations:

• 大山脈Ｘ = Daisanmyaku X = Massive Mountain X
• 組曲大山脈 = Massive Mountains Suite
• バルカン山脈 = Balkan Mountains

Shub-Niggurath "Variation"

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Shub-Niggurath
Live
cassette
(Auricle, 1989)

My friend Greg burnt me a copy of Shub-Niggurath's 1986 debut album, Les morts vont vite, several years ago. They came across to me as a mixture of the darkest elements of King Crimson (ca. mid-1970s) and Univers Zero, who were pretty much 100% dark in their early career. It was (and still is) great stuff. Naturally, I immediately began to search out a hard copy for myself.

In the meantime, since Les morts vont vite was currently out of print, I picked up their second and third albums: C'étaient de très grands vents and Shub~Niggurath. The latter of those is usually referred to as Testament, but that word appears precisely nowhere on my copy.

At some point, I discovered there was a live cassette release, recorded inbetween Les morts vont vite and C'étaient de très grands vents, on Friday the 13th (of January, 1989). The title was a bit more reserved than the albums betwixt which it appeared, but at least Live is descriptive, yes? Of the five pieces included on the tape (four, if you count Phineos 1 and Phineos 2 as a single piece), two later appeared in studio form on C'étaient de très grands vents, but the remainder remain exclusive to it. Today's selection is the final track. Enjoy!

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NOTE: Since the name Shub-Niggurath comes from the pen of H.P. Lovecraft, there are, naturally, at least two heavy metal bands also using it. One is from Mexico and the other from Italy.

Quartz "Quartz"

Quartz
Quartz
LP
(Marlin, 1978)

I found this one in the "New Arrivals" bin at my fave local record shop two or three years ago. I knew it couldn't possibly be the NWoBHM* band Quartz, despite never having heard either; it just didn't look like a metal record (it was also from 1978, just a bit too early to be NWoBHM).

It looked worth the risk, so I snatched it.

YES, I PAID FOR IT!

I slapped it on the victola when I arrived home and discovered it was a disco record; the first disco record I'd bought in my life, in fact. Except it sounds like a disco version of Magma. Unfortunately, side two is rather pedestrian disco.

They released a second album, Camel in the City, and it, too, was half really cool and half strictly dullsville.

Yes, this means I now own two disco records; oh, the shame!

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*New Wave of British Heavy Metal