Metal Bastard: B-Thong - "Damage" (1995)

Monday, November 26, 2007

B-Thong - "Damage" (1995)

Well well well... Looks like I've done created myself another blog.

Unlike the first one, Monkey Bastard's MP3 Blahg, Metal Bastard's MP3 Blahg will focus on the heavier, angrier, faster and more aggressive and abrasive parts of my record collection. In other words, all the stuff that just didn't fit the other one. Metal, punk and hardcore have always been my first love (since the age of 12 when Metallica and Faith No More came into my life) so I'm surprised I haven't gotten around to making a blog devoted to heavy music until now, at the ripe ol' age of 26.

I'll start this sucker off with a forgotten gem: Sweden's B-Thong, and their second album Damage (big shout out to Joanna A for reminding me of this meisterwerk and sending me the three mp3s at the bottom of this post). Damage is pretty typical sounding for a mid-90's metal record. No real surprises in the production, it sounds pretty much like you would expect it to. Plenty of Prong influences, some Pantera here and there, perhaps an ounce or two of Machine Head. A little of this, a little of that, with a pinch of dippity doo sprinkled on top. Nothing terribly original.

What really impresses is the level of musicianship that hits you straight in the nuts from the first few seconds on, Tony Jelencovich's powerful voice, and songs that remain hooky and memorable, but never compromising in heavyness and attitude (certainly something B-Thong had in common with Pantera). After this album Tony left to persue his sideproject Transport League fulltime. After Transport League called it a day, he sang in Danish cyber-rockers Mnemic for about a day and a half before being replaced by frog-eater Guillaume Bideau.

Following the departue of Jelencovic, B-Thong recruited Ralf Gyllenhammar to take care of vocal duties, but after one album with Ralf (who now fronts Gothenburg's metal/rock/stoner heroes Mustasch, one of Sweden's most popular heavy bands) B-Thong threw in the towel. Probably wisely so - they would never be able to top Damage anyway, so what's the point?