V/A - Hails & Horns Sampler Vol. 2

A town can be measured by its record stores. By that standard, Minot, ND, has gone to the dogs. I'm back in my hometown for the holidays, and I discovered that the one record store in the one mall here recently closed. Tellingly, a Christian bookstore also replaced the only toy store. Now, the only non-chain music store here is a place that sells incense and does movie rentals.

At the mall, I saw Hails & Horns No.2 at Hot Topic. Sure, I'm twice as old as everyone else in the store, but there's no better place to find a leather-free studded belt. H&H caught my eye, as I interviewed Cannibal Corpse for it. But since it's print and not online, I hadn't yet seen it published. That's one of the quirks of writing for print - sometimes you have to buy your own work.

Misery Signals - Failsafe
Gwar - School's Out

The magazine pleasantly surprised me. H&H is the metal sister to AMP, a free fanzine available practically everywhere in America. Unsurprisingly, it bears the AMP trademarks - tons of bands, tons of writers, virtually no spell-checking. But it's also lovable for the same reasons. For sheer quantity, it's unbeatable. Interviews with Bruce Dickinson, Kerry King, Devin Townsend, Jamey Jasta, Steve Asheim, Barney from Napalm Death, Dragonforce, Goatwhore, Merrimack, and Gorgoroth, not to mention guest columns from Kurt Ballou and friggin' Bill Ward from Black Sabbath? Sign me up!

Add full color throughout (as opposed to AMP's usual newsprint-type paper) and a 21-track CD sampler, and you have a diverse, enjoyable package perfect for short attention spans. I always check out metal CD samplers, as they're a great way to discover new bands. And sure enough, two songs on the sampler for H&H No.2 jump out at me.

First is Misery Signals' "Failsafe." At last, metalcore that doesn't suck! No Swedish riffs or bullshit clean vocals, just cool, post-hardcore chords, passionate vocals, and perfect songwriting. I can't believe I slept on this band for so long. Then there's Gwar's cover of Alice Cooper's "School's Out." Evidently, this track isn't like the rest of Gwar's new album, as the label forced the band to record it for "hit" purposes. But the cover is both faithful and punchy in a modern way, and it accomplishes its purpose - Devin Townsend produced the record, so maybe it's worth checking out.

Suddenly I'm that 15 year-old kid again, racing home from the record store with magazines and CD's practically glowing in their shrinkwrap.