Joel Grind – The Yellow Goat Sessions
Joel is no stranger to metal the old way, for he’s been kicking it around for the stripped back to the basics black thrash offensive of Toxic Holocaust since 1999. With his full-time band, he has built a following by being a dedicated road warrior, eager to peddle his Bathory impregnated by Motorhead style to whoever wants to to get hammered in the front row and bang away their last few remaining brain cells. In all honesty, the early material of TH by far packs the biggest punch for me when I feel the need to drown in the nostalgia of metal’s glorious past and for some reason I don’t do it with the bands that have been the blueprint for Mr. Grind and everyone else to pick up a guitar and form a band with the track “Sacrifice” acting as their guide. As enjoyable as his material can be, it’s not something I’m reaching for often.
Why he didn’t just make this a new Toxic Holocaust release strikes me as odd since the inspiration comes from the same place, but “Joel Grind” – The Yellow Goat Sessions, as a solo debut, is basically the 1st Bathory album in spirit and in execution at times (hence the album title). The leadoff track, “Hell’s Master of Hell” sounds like the perfect union of the Bathory classics Armageddon and Reaper. If you play both bands back and forth, it’s actually kind of creepy the resemblance. These similarities subside a bit on slower tracks like Foul Spirit Within and The Eternal One as more of a dirty crawl and barren song structures take over to pervert the power chord dominant riffs as tribute to the Devil. This breaks up the sameness found on this album to keep me interested enough to keep going back to The Yellow Goat Sessions. The end result is “fun” for a lack of better term, which is something I tend to shy away from musically no matter the context. At least here, the good times are found in remembering the high school days and the quest I embarked upon in finding all the primitive metal I could to feed the hunger.
Joel Grind’s love for what he’s doing is evident here and I feel this release is a perfect one for the car to inspire air guitar/knee driving and steering wheel bashing, or a metal kegger party. Simplicity, volume and a disregard for originality is law here and once you get over that fact, the charm and pop structured catchiness of Joel Grind’s material may be just enough to warrant a curious, though non essential inspection. -Marty
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