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Saint Vitus - s/t lp  -  Saint Vitus - Hallow’s Victim lp  -  Saint Vitus - Walking Dead E.P.

Metal monday vol. 29:   Phase one of Saint Vitus’ career (1979-1985) will probably always be overshadowed by their second phase, the Scott “Wino” Weinrich lps (1986-1990) as he’s become something like the godfather of doom-metal and stoner-rock in his aged state. But for me the band’s original lineup has something all their own, and is worth spending just as much time and money on.

Saint Vitus began originally under the name Tyrant with the following lineup: Scott Reagers - Vocals, Dave Chandler - Guitar, Mark Adams - Bass, Armando Acosta - Drums. It’s somewhat significant that they were (I assume) named after a 70’s era Judas Priest song because I think at this point in their career Saint Vitus/Tyrant owe as much of their sound to them as they do to Black Sabbath. The only known recording under the Tyrant name is a rehearsal tape from 1979 and after that the group was silent release-wise until 1984, well after the Saint Vitus name change. Saint Vitus’ s/t lp is actually kind of weird because it’s a metal/rock album released on, at the time, one of the world’s biggest punk/hardcore labels: Greg Ginn’s SST. Of course it was released in 1984, the same year that Black Flag started stretching out their songs, and Husker Du and the Minutemen released 2XLP concept albums, so maybe it wasn’t that weird. Either way this record set up the template that their Walking Dead 12″ E.P. and Hallows Victim lp would basically follow to a T the next year.

Scott Reager’s vocals immediately stand out from the rush of thick and hazy riffing. He has a soulful, clear, mid-range delivery that instantly brings to mind the vocals of Sean Harris the vocalist on Diamond Head’s classic Lightning to the Nations lp. It’s also not far off say, Zeeb Parkes of Witchfinder General. In other words it’s a clean singing style, but you’re not going to hear Halford or Dickenson style high-notes. Some people are bothered by this unabashedly classic metal style of singing, but I think it makes a great contrast for the rough and raw music it accompanies.

Where Saint Vitus is probably most known for their later period of lumbering, slow motion tracks like Born Too Late, I Bleed Black, and their insanely down-tempo take on Black Flag’s Thirsty and Miserable, Reagers era Vitus actually plays at a pretty fast clip, again betraying their Judas Priest influence. What makes them unique is that they’re obviously influenced by the fledgling punk movement of the time, and that they’re obviously a self taught band. They break as many classic rock rules as they follow. On the song Saint Vitus, they pile on hardcore type back-up shouts for the chorus. On the title track of Hallow’s Victim, Armando Acosta utilizes a mix of straight ahead punk drumming, and the kind of choppy, broken up beats that Fear drummer Spit Stix was known to employ.

The level of wah-wah abuse realized on these recordings by guitarist Dave Chandler is completely over the top, unhinged, and psychotic. When he goes into one of these fits it’s a total deconstruction of the typical “metal solo” where precision and masturbatory skill tend to be the order of the day. Instead you get sheets of phase shifting noise and washes of fuzz as his fingers grate against the frets and strings. It sounds like a man at war with his instrument. I might even go so far as to argue that Chandler could give Greg Ginn a run for his money, at least as far as sheer brutality goes.

On the whole then, these Reagers era Vitus records play like punked out classic rock, but as played by a band that were rockers first, and let punk sounds seep into their delivery, as opposed to the other way around (which I would say is more common).

Be sure to watch out for bootlegs of all of this stuff as unscrupulous jerks from Europe continue to exploit the Saint Vitus back catalog. Easy to tell an original press of their first lp because it has embossed letters. Beyond that look for blurry and dull looking sleeves, and be wary of sealed copies.

PS. I got a bunch of good auctions ending tonight, please check them out.