We’ve reached another week that has a reissue claiming the top slot on the release list. It’s a rare occurrence, but when it does happen, there is a good reason for it. This week, the reason is simple – quite frankly, not a lot is coming out that will attract as much attention. However, the releases on today’s list are worth checking out, so give this list your full attention!
Kiss, Destroyer: Resurrected (Mercury)
The multi-platinum 1976 release from the glam metal legends is a legendary album in its own right, but this new version of the album will entice many longtime fans to get a copy. The highlights begin before even hearing the first note, as this release features the original artwork that was intended for Destroyer all along, but was rejected initially by Casablanca Records for its depiction of violence. Then you add on an extended version of the track “Beth” and a new version of “Sweet Pain”, and this is set to be quite a good reissue package for the seminal group. Granted, the album does not have all the bells and whistles originally promised (Gene Simmons initially said this would be a two-disc release with demos, outtakes, and B-sides to go along with everything already mentioned). Nonetheless, though, this is certainly worth checking out if you are a veteran Kiss fan.
Project 86, Wait for the Siren (Team Black)
A mainstay of Tooth & Nail’s roster for nearly 15 years, Project 86 went independent at the end of last year, launching a Kickstarter with the intent of “making the fans the record label”. Even though vocalist Andrew Schwab was the only member left from the lineup that had recorded 2009’s Picket Fence Cartel, and no one seems to know if the album was recorded with the new members of Project 86’s lineup or not, it’s still good to know that this album was able to come together through that Kickstarter. Wait for the Siren has a very impressive guest cast that includes Bruce Fitzhugh (Living Sacrifice), Rocky Gray (Living Sacrifice, We Are the Fallen, ex-Evanescence), Brian “Head” Welch (Korn), Blake Martin (A Plea for Purging), Andrew Welch (Disciple), and all the members of Christian punk/post-hardcore outfit The Wedding. Wait for the Siren promises to be a turning point in Project 86’s career, but fan reaction will determine if that turn is for the positive or the negative in the end.
Also being released this week:
Sunflower Dead, Sunflower Dead (Bloody Bat)
Nihill, Verdonkermaan (Hydra Head)
Old Homes, Shut In (Dreadwind)
Shreddy Krueger, Curses (InVogue)
Next Week: We answer the question once and for all of who would win in a popularity contest between gothic, doom-influenced progressive metal, and spastic, technicality-riddled mathcore. It should be quite a matchup! Come back to find out the winner!
