Precious Death were an inspired
Los Angeles metal band that struggled for years without a label while metal
thrived. They finally signed with Metro One in 1993 when metal was beginning
to lose it's stride to grunge and alternative. Unfortunately, they made the
un-wise decision of following those trends and fell apart. Precious Death had
four fabulous and unique musicians: Andy Kohler: bass, Christopher Scott (Christopher Neiswonger): vocals,
David Bishop: guitars, and founder Roger Sampson :drums.
Precious Death - Our Stinkin' Demo (demo) 1991
1. "The Depth of My
Soul"
2. "I Will"
3. "Forcefed"
4. "Walls"
I love this demo! I originally heard it while Vengeance Rising were touring. Before VR came on stage, they were blasting this demo over the PA. I had to find out who it was. Precious Death sound like no other on this tape. It's almost like a mixture of thrash, funk and a side of Motley Crue. If "Southpaw" ever gets re-released, I hope these tracks will be released as bonus tracks.
Precious Death - Southpaw (Metro One) 1993
1. "Southpaw"
(4:15)
2. "Shine" (4:20)
3. "Hello" (5:20)
4. "No-Can-Do" (5:31)
5. "Strange To Me" (4:59)
6. "Talk About the Weather" (6:32)
7. "King of Siam" (4:57)
8. "Force Fed" (5:33)
9. "One Day to Live" (4:23)
This album is fabulous-a masterpeace! After wearing out their "Our Stinking Demo" tape, I was anxious to get the full length disc, which only has one song off the demo ("Force Fed"). The first song starts out with a HEAVY Metallica crunch but mixes in the extraordinary vocals of Chris Scott, who is one of the most unique vocalists ever. "Shine" totally changes style, going for a heavy funk sound mixing it with California thrash. I absolutely love this album. It is one of my all time favorites.
Precious Death - If You Must (Metro One) 1994
1. "You Can't Break
Me" (4:17)
2. "You're Gone, I'm Here" (3:04)
3. "If You Must" (3:06)
4. "All Over Now" (3:27)
5. "Blindside" (3:35)
6. "Oscillating Fullwave Bridge Rectifiers" (2:08)
7. "Some New Song" (3:02)
8. "E" (3:23)
9. "Deathtrap" (3:15)
10. "Outside My Window" (3:30)
11. "I Remember" (2:33)
12. "So Far Away" (4:13)
13. "Moments" (4:25)
Roger and his band of cohorts, known as Precious Death, release the follow-up to their brilliant debut. Hmmm, perhaps this is the beginning of a downward spiral or perhaps a mistep, but this album is nowhere near the excellence of the debut. There are still a lot of fine songs, but there is a bunch of silliness as well like in the "Oscillating Fullwave Bridge Rectifiers" which, I am sure, was meant as a joke. The problem with joke songs is that they are only funny the first or second time you hear them, after that they make the skip button a necessity. In any case the music went from being trend setting to trend following as Precious Death intentionally jump on the Pantera bandwagon. Well, this still isn't a bad album, just somewhat disappointing when compared to "Southpaw." Christopher Scott still sings like no one else, and Roger Sampson's killer drum work is still present. Favorite songs "Some New Song" "I Remember" "So Far Away" and the somewhat bizarre "Moments." "I Remember" is an acoustic guitar ballad that Chris just wails on top of with his power-house voice. My copy is autographed by all four members who I met after their gig in Albuquerque in 1994 with Ultimatum opening.
Precious Death (Metro One) 1996
1. "All We Have is
Now" (3:17)
2. "I Was Free" (3:21)
3. "(What's The Name) Of This Song" (4:52)
4. "Another Form of Slavery" (3:27)
5. "The Ocean" (2:56)
6. "Did You Know" (4:14)
7. "New Music for a Quiet Revolution" (4:19)
8. "When the Rain Comes" (3:06)
9. "One and One and One" (3:44)
10. "Psa 1M" (6:36)
13. "untitled/unlisted track" (2:44)
Uh, what I said about the last album being a mistep or a indication of a downward spiral . . . well, it was a downward spiral. This album just sucks! I can't even believe this is the same band that recorded the brilliant "Southpaw" and "Our Stinking Demo." First of all Chris Scott has decided that he no longer sings metal and joined a crappy alternative band called Blackball. He is on this album, but I hardly call it singing when compared to the last two albums. He even raps on "All We Have Is Now" and "Another Form of Slavery." Second, band leader, song writer Roger Sampson is gone as is bassist Andy Kohler (Although Andy does have one song writing credit on this album.). Last, this is just bad alternative music. Where are the chunky riffs, the funky bass. Argh! I'm just frustrated but I am glad that this was their last album if this was the direction they planned on going in.
Also on cassette tape:
Precious Death - Some New Songs (4 song EP) (Metro One)