ZNOWHITE
"All Hail To Thee / Kick "Em
When They're Down / Live Suicide" (MetalMind; 2007)
Reviewed by Metal Mark
The good people at Metal Mind have outdone themselves this time. With this re-issue set, we get Znowhite’s second LP, plus a studio EP, and a live EP all on one disc. That’s 18 songs plus a thick booklet. Not bad.
Znowhite were a Chicago-based, female-fronted band that played a rather basic, but energetic, early style of speed metal. The faster songs remind me a lot of Exciter while the mid-paced tracks sound more like maybe Accept to some extent. The vocals took a little time to get used to but by about the fourth track I was enjoying them.
Znowhite had a reputation for being rather inconsistent, but they never became much bigger popularity wise than they were around 1985-1986, despite the fact that they played for several years after that. I think this might be due to the fact that they played a style that became somewhat obsolete after "Reign in Blood" and "Master of Puppets" changed the genre forever.
Still, this material holds up fairly well and I found myself listening to it several times the first few days I owned it. Znowhite may not have been as aggressive as some of their peers, but they played a likeable, rather bare-bones style of speed metal. They easily managed to create songs that were memorable and didn’t overstay their welcome. This disc is certainly worth checking out.
For more information, check out http://www.myspace.com/znowhitethrash.
Rating Guide:
A classic. This record will kick your ass.
Killer. Not a classic but it will rock your world.
So-so. You've heard better.
Pretty bad. Might make a nice coaster.
Self explanatory. Just the sight of the cover makes you wanna hurl.
Copyright © 2007 by R. Scott Bolton. All rights reserved.
