Metal Mixtape: 1993 - Packaged Rebellion
 |
In this month's Decibel (#40, Dethklok cover), I've written the "Will Consider Trades" column, which constructs a hypothetical mixtape from a chosen year. Reading about a mixtape one can't hear isn't much fun, so here is the actual "mixtape," sequenced and volume-normalized for your enjoyment. (Funny how "mixtape" still has a certain cachet; "mix CD" isn't as cool, and the rather lame "playlist" is where we are now.) The year is 1993, when I graduated from high school. This tape is a snapshot of what I was listening to then; some tunes made it onto actual mixtapes, probably for my then- (and long-suffering) girlfriend, the heroine of the column.
1993 - Packaged Rebellion [95.7MB .zip]1. Clutch - A Shogun Named Marcus
2. Fugazi - Public Witness Program
3. Danzig - It's Coming Down
4. Entombed - Full of Hell
5. Sepultura - We Who Are Not as Others
6. Morbid Angel - God of Emptiness
7. Death - Trapped in a Corner
8. Carcass - Death Certificate
9. Disincarnate - Monarch of the Sleeping Marches
10. Anthrax - Room for One More
11. Helmet & House of Pain - Just Another Victim
12. Fear Factory - Self Immolation (Vein Tap Mix)
13. KMFDM - A Drug Against War
Through the years, my CD collection has undergone tremendous flux, so now I own remastered editions of some of these records. Though these editions often have cool liner notes and extras, the majority of them sound worse than their originals. Records acquire their mystique for what they are; to alter their sound is to alter the chemistry, however flawed, that yielded the mystique. Remastering these days usually consists of brickwall compression, which is almost always unnecessary. Carcass had a major label budget for "Death Certificate," but jeezus, was the production this punchy and Killswitch Engage-like? Compiling these tunes makes me want to seek out original, unremastered copies of their albums.
6 Comments:
Oh, man, I didn't even realize it was you who had written this one!? You and I are obviously a lot alike and grew up on the same shit. I don't even need to download this because I have every single one of these songs with the exception of KMFDM, and I could probably sing you every one of them from memory. I'd have gone with different tracks from Sepultura and Entombed, but everything else is dead on. The Carcass track is a personal favorite, the Death track was a top pick of mine, that Disincarnate track was always the best song on that record for my money, that Fugazi track totally kicks ass, worship-worthy Clutch... possibly the best Danzig song ever? And of course that Morbid Angel track is their best ever, ha, ha! And I even still love that Anthrax album, too. This is probably the best one of these that I've ever seen in Decibel, now that I'm really thinking about it. At least as it pertains to my listening habits and the shit that I was into at that time as well. Good stuff...
Bizarre - this pretty much matches a metal mixtape I made for a friend back in '93 or '94. He was only into the Pixies and Pavement and wanted something heavier. I think I might have thrown a Pantera or Prong track on there somewhere, but other than that, the similarities are frightening.
Why is it that metal remasterings almost always never work? Damn that compression.
Oh, man, I want to do 1991.
Quality, nuff said
o yeah, i will take that packeged rebellion with the air i breathe.....
Thanks for the mix. Surprised you could resist the Onxy/Biohazard track, if only to hear them scream "Judgment NIIIIGGGHHHTTT!" one more time...
Post a Comment
<< Home