"Not Dead Yet"Alright fellas, make yourself comfortable, this is gonna take awhile. :)
Step back in time to the fall of 1987, when my brother, myself, and our mutual friend "Zonker" started getting into the thrash scene in a big way. One of my brother's finds was the LP Raging Violence, plus the followup EP Hate, Fear & Power, by the band Hirax. Unique music, to say the least: mostly thrash chords interspersed with hardcore riffs, and a singer with a vocal style unlike any I've ever heard before or since. The lyrics also stood out, starting with the opening yell of "Demons": "YOU!! YOU WILL GO DOWN, DOWN TO THE DEMONS!! AND WHEN YOU GET THERE, YOU, YOU'LL BE IN HELL!!!" -- other themes are warlike ("Bombs of Death", also appearing on Metal Massacre VI) and curiously medieval ("Defeat of Amalek", "Warlords Command") Without a doubt, there was nothing like it out there.
Now, I was a strict crappy vinyl person then, and only owned 10 CDs to my name (hard to believe now!!); Zonker was the first to get big into the new digital technology, and amassed a collection that blew me away: Sacred Reich, Death Angel, Savatage, Possessed, Blind Illusion, Paradox, etc. etc....in fact, one day while browsing his collection, I remarked, "Maybe I should kill you and take all your CDs!" To which, another friend replied, "Oh no, I've read your poetry, I don't think Zonker will sleep tonight!" Haha. Well, anyways, one of his many purchases was Not Dead Yet, which combined both Hirax releases on one disc. (Ironically, he bought it the same day as Blind Illusion, another CD that I spent hours trying to convince him was not as valuable as his life.) Very nice, of course, but as I began building my own collection, I figured it was something I'd just go to the store and pick up someday....someday.....
Still with me? No? Well too bad, I'll just write to hear myself talk...
Okay. By the early 90's I came face to face with something that I had not taken into account...the fact that stuff goes OUT OF PRINT from time to time. Suddenly, my quest for the Hirax CD (and several others) went from casual to a burning obsession! Going online in 1996 helped a lot, as I gradually managed to track down rare CDs via obscure vendors & private traders. Hirax, however, posed a major problem. You see, NOBODY has this CD, and the few people that DO have it, will NOT let go of it!! Literally, it's on everybody's "want list", and nobody's trade list! I even wrote Metal Blade directly and asked if it would be reissued, and they basically said, "Don't hold your breath..."
In all the time I'd been online, I'd only seen it for sale or trade three times. The first time was on some guy's trade list, but he would only accept a trade, and his price was excruciatingly high: Possessed's Seven Churches AND Exodus's Bonded by Blood (original cover). Obviously, it was a price I could not pay (although I kicked myself several times when the Relativity/Century Media reissues were announced!) The second time was for sale, for $100, at Rebel Metal, run by the infamous Manny Comres. 'Nuff said about that scam artist...
By March of 1999, however, I hit the biggest streak of karma I've ever had in my LIFE. Like magic, such impossibly rare titles as Demon's "The Plague", Reverend's self-titled EP, and Pallas's "The Sentinel" were falling into my lap! And then, the crowning touch, took place in early May, when I logged onto GEMM, and for the hell of it, typed in Hirax. And just like magic, up came a listing for this CD...for EIGHT BUCKS!!
Ever get the feeling that you're dreaming? I still think I'm gonna wake up from this...
Anyway...after checking out the supplier, and not exactly feeling comfortable with what I saw, I decided, hey, it's worth eight bucks just for the CHANCE of getting it. So I placed an order, and got a shipping confirmation two days later. Paid through the nose for shipping, $5.65 for 2-day priority, when it actually took 10 days to arrive...but who am I to complain? Still, those 10 days waiting for the CD to show up were the longest in my life, and in fact I didn't dare speak a word of it to ANYONE, lest I jinx the deal...
But it's here, and I'm happy. What a score!! This one's for the record books, for sure. Oh, I did make some people weep when I told them where I got it, and for how much. I've even considered writing the guy who sold it to me and telling him how much it was really worth...but naah, that would be too mean. :-))
(Oh, and I was just joking about killing my friend and stealing his CDs....or was I? We shall never know now....)
Oh shit, Katon's gonna pop a vein if he ever sees this...well, all I have to say is that I'll probably buy the original CDs once the inevitable guilt overtakes me. (That, and whenever I have enough wall space to add the FOUR discs this compilation encompasses!) Blasted in Bangkok is the one most likely to be upgraded -- taken from recording sessions just after Hate, Fear and Power was released, the music is stylistically similar to their 80's catalog, and makes a great addendum to Not Dead Yet. ("Bombs of Death" is identical to the Metal Massacre VI version.) The same cannot be said, however, for their 2000 reunion disc Barrage of Noise, and its companion EP El Diablo Negro. With a completely new lineup, the music sounds nothing like the raging thrash of the golden years; not even Katon's voice sound the same anymore. Just generic hardcore, if you ask me.
The fourth disc (which got added as a bonus, I didn't even ask for it, in case the band's lawyers are reading this...) comes from a band Katon formed after Hirax disbanded, featuring original Metallica bassist Ron McGovney (I always wondered what happened to him?!?) and ex-Dark Angel/Death/ Testament drummer Gene Hoglan. The music is in a post-punk style that would be a lot more interesting if the recording quality wasn't so BAD -- we're talking supremo bootleg fidelity here!! (Plus there are some gaps between the live songs, but I think it's because a few tracks were removed to make the whole thing fit on one CD.)
Of course, all original CDs can be purchased at www.hirax.org -- just don't tell them about me, ok? :)
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