The Goddess of Doom: Saint Vitus

We'll be working through our catalog in the order they appeared in the song. First up: Saint Vitus!

Pulled from Allmusic's biography page:

One of the leading American doom metal acts of the '80s (along with Trouble and the Obsessed), Saint Vitus was cursed with public indifference throughout their decade-plus career, which both started and ended in frustrating obscurity. Originally formed as Tyrant in 1979 by vocalist Scott Reagers, guitarist Dave Chandler, bassist Mark Adams, and drummer Armando Acosta, Los Angeles' Saint Vitus was named after a medieval boy saint whose beheading and violent death-throes gave rise to the gruesome expression ("Saint Vitus Dance," also the name of a Black Sabbath song from the Vol. 4 album). Though they couldn't help but be slightly influenced by the SoCal hardcore scene thriving all around them (especially on their early releases), the quartet was a card-carrying disciple of Sabbath's dreary doom metal commandments, specializing in amazingly slow, ponderous power chords and a highly unfashionable biker image. Their eponymous 1984 debut was released by Black Flag guitarist Greg Ginn's SST Records, and was followed in quick succession by the Walking Dead EP and Hallow's Victim album the very next year.

1984 - Saint Vitus
The band's eponymous release is a thunderous mix of Sabbath riffs, Dave Chandler's fuzzed-out, psychedelic guitars, and Scott Reager's operatic zombie wail, with a sprinkling of punk-energy (particularly on the title track) that's to be expected on the SST label. Whether you prefer them at the plodding dirge level of "The Psychopath" that would be later picked up and expanded upon by European Doom metal bands like Candlemass, or the midtempo groove of White Magic - Black Magic, Saint Vitus' first album screams "doom" of all flavors. A quality release from beginning to end.

http://www.mediafire.com/?y7yl9r8ed6cn05e

1985 - Hallow's Victim

As their later discography, especially in the Wino years, will come to reflect, Saint Vitus preferred a slow creep to an all-out sonic assault (one can't help but feel this must have been an intentional knock at the thrash craze at the time), But as their second LP proved, they could handle a speedier number just as good as anybody, and indeed "White Stallions" and the excellent "War Is Our Destiny" are common fan-favorites. Saint Vitus are nothing if not consistent--this template of plodders and mid-tempo rockers would follow through pretty much every album in their career.

http://www.mediafire.com/?v48z395cwpouawx

1985 - The Walking Dead EP

An EP released shortly after their second album would be Saint Vitus' final release with Reagers before a reunion a decade later. It features "White Stallions" from the previous LP. These days if you track down Hallow's Victim on CD or LP-rerelease you'll likely find The Walking Dead EP tacked on the end.

http://www.mediafire.com/?2kk19bvvwba6ska

1986 - Born Too Late

Scott Reagers soon departed, leaving Saint Vitus without a vocalist. They invited Scott "Wino" Weinrich, vocalist/guitarist of fellow doomsters The Obsessed (an excellent band we will be covering in the coming weeks), to take over, requiring he move from his hometown in Baltimore, MA to California. Their first release with Wino became a landmark of the emerging Doom Metal genre and a template for future albums to come. At a tempo that makes Children of the Grave look like thrash, the title track and others crawl at an agonizingly slow rate as riff after riff builds upon Wino's distinctly harsher vocal-style. The sincerity of Wino's lyrics underpins the isolation "us versus them" mentality that was brewing in the 80's with the growing popularity of speed metal and thrash against the traditionalists and lovers of oldschool Sabbath: "Everytime I'm on the street / People laugh and point at me / They talk about my length of hair / And the out of date clothes I wear." Particularly of interest, "They say my songs are much too slow". Talk about prescient. Doom Metal bands in 2011 get labeled "retro-metal"; these guys were anachronisms already by 1986.

Born Too Late is commonly considered Saint Vitus' magnum opus, and with good reason: aside from the masterful title track, the album includes the memorable "Clear Windowpane" (espousing the joys of imaginary friends and head-lice), another funeral dirge classic, "Dying Inside" (seemingly a self-recognition of Wino's alcoholism, although it would take another decade before he finally dealt with it), and the excellent "Look Behind You" (which, as a demo with Reagers on vocals confirms, had been written for quite some time). For all fans of psychedelic, doom, and stoner metal, Born Too Late comes highly recommended. On most CD releases you'll also find the Thirsty and Miserable EP included into the tracklisting (containing a masterfully-executed cover of Black Flag's "Thirsty and Miserable").

http://www.mediafire.com/?37o45ndvxk9e6yq

1988 - Mournful Cries

The batch of songs that comprised Saint Vitus' following album, Mournful Cries, lack any of the instant classics such as "Born Too Late" or "Look Behind You," but it's clear that their musicianship is in top form. As evidenced by his time in The Obsessed and the plethora of bands he would start in the years to come, Wino is an excellent guitarist, and I always found it something of a pity that his guitar skills went largely underutilized during his tenure with Vitus. Fortunately it is pulled out, if sparingly, on Mournful Cries, as Wino receives a few writing credits on the tracks "Looking Glass" and "Bitter Truth," though all of the solos are distinctly Chandler. Aside from a spine-chilling drum solo march midway through Shooting Gallery, standout tracks include "Bitter Truth" and the fantasy-based "Dragon Time". Another thoroughly enjoyable album, if not quite as memorable as its predecessor. I will at least give props to the nice album art, although it might just be reminding me of a Magic: The Gathering card.

http://www.mediafire.com/?t1d1qj1jb31be0k

1989 - V

The final studio release with Wino (and arguably the end of SV's "golden" years), as well as the band's first release on Hellhound Records label,the aptly-named "V" (the roman numeral for five, hence their fifth album) is a competent if somewhat forgettable effort. All of the Saint Vitus trademarks are there, but it's beginning to sound like they're losing their spark. While one can hardly expect much by way of "innovation" from a genre whose sole purpose is to emulate the sound of Black Sabbath's first six albums, V sees the enormously-talented band already starting to retread old ground ("Living Backwards" stands as one of the better tracks on the album--even then, didn't we already deal with anachronistic isolation on "Born Too Late"?). Vitus experiments with female vocals on "When Emotion Dies" with some success, while "Ice Monkey" gives Wino a bit of room to stretch his songwriting chops. The token speedy-by-comparison track "Angry Man" remains a personal favorite (the chord progression and bass fills on the slow-chorus in particular remind me of Black Sabbath's "N.I.B."), and closer "Mind-Food" at least sends us off with a pretty decent riff.

The slight laziness on this album foreshadows the snoozefest that will follow in the form of C.O.D. But at this point in time the Saint Vitus ship holds out just a little longer. By no means a bad album, but not one I can see anyone being particularly enthused over, either.

http://www.mediafire.com/?upr04f4r6am1ijx

1990 - Live

Most people will tell you that Born Too Late is Saint Vitus' best album. I respectfully disagree, provided we are allowed to include Live albums. As far as they go, this one is simply fantastic. The setlist showcased more or less amounts to a "Best of" tracklist, bolstered by all of the energy and live-embellishments of an excellent performing band. The omission of tracks like "Saint Vitus" is probably for the better (much as I love Wino, Reagers' style occasionally shined brighter on some songs), while Wino absolutely kills other early cuts like "War Is Our Destiny." Saint Vitus is at their peak here, performing every track with an intensity that matches and often exceeds their studio counterparts. A true joy to possess, with a clarity you will not find among live bootlegs. Should you decide to check out only one Saint Vitus album, I can think of no better album than this one.

http://www.mediafire.com/?olf93ogqd3uslqd

1991: Heavier Than Thou

Not to be outdone by a live album that was, for all intents and purposes, a "Best of" compilation as well, SST Records countered SV's Live success with an actual compilation. Consisting of choice cuts from each of SV's albums through Mournful Cries, Heavier Than Thou feels like a cheap cash-in by a label angry that they had lost their golden goose (in reality I'm not sure the compilation made much cash, nor was Saint Vitus exactly laying golden eggs to begin with, at least as far as revenue was concerned; but let's see you come up with a better analogy, asshole). If you want to get a good idea of SV's best body of work, I suppose this serves that purpose, but so does the aforementioned Live, with the benefit of having a consistent singer across them. A completely skippable effort, to be honest.

http://www.mediafire.com/?032w22wmn0hq2ml

1992 - C.O.D.

And now we arrive at the black sheep of Saint Vitus' discography, C.O.D. The creative rut that Vitus seemed to be headed for in V is in full-swing here, with a monotone vocalist at the helm, to boot. Wino had since left to reform The Obsessed, leaving Chandler to recruit Swedish vocalist Christian Lindersson. In the past I had always thought of this guy as the epitome of mediocrity: weak vocal range, not terribly emotive, and it seems operating slowly on his ability to sound like Ozzy Osbourne. I hated him on Count Raven's first album, and I hate him here. Sixteen years after C.O.D. he will reinvent his singing style, become the vocalist for Lord Vicar, and deliver some of the most soulful, emotional singing since Johan Längqvist. But at this point in time, he still sucks. The rest of the album doesn't do much better. Outside of an adequate title track, the rest of the listing is largely forgettable. With a band like Saint Vitus whose sound remains so remarkably consistent, it is often difficult to articulate exactly what makes an album weak (for a fun exercise in futility, try explaining to a non-metal enthusiast what separates a good Motörhead album from a bad one). That the production seems to bury the guitars and the drums in the mix while elevating Lindersson's mediocre vocals is certainly one aspect, but the biggest culprit here is uninspired songwriting. Even tracks that show some promise ("Shadow of a Skeleton," "Screaming Banshee") falter, and other tracks plod endlessly, going nowhere. It's a sad thing when the band itself sounds bored, to say nothing of the audience. You can probably skip this one--you've got six other solid LP's and an awesome live album to work with. Are you really hurting that much for Doom?

http://www.mediafire.com/?at0hj91x9dpgx09

1995 - Die Healing

Saint Vitus' final outing saw them reuniting with original vocalist Scott Reagers. His return brings some much-needed energy to the album, though the rest of the band still feels like they're trying to shrug-off the robotic motions of the last album. "Dark World" sets the tone for the rest of the album--still heavy on the plodding side but certainly a cut above their last two LP's. "One Mind" keeps the momentum going before "Let the End Begin" promptly drops it. I've got a high tolerance for over-the-top vocalists (consult my collection of Crimson Glory albums), but even I've got my limits; not even a curious bass solo midway through can save it. The rest of the album holds up well enough, although with a track titled "Sloth" you should abandon any hope of ever seeing the midtempo again. "Just Another Notch" is about as close as we get, closing out the album.

Some fans hail this as their best album. While I certainly appreciate Reagers' return, it still doesn't come close to Born Too Late in my book. Nonetheless, it's a competent return to form and a worthy final outing for this unappreciated doom outfit.