SLANDER is an interesting band. On these two discs, you have two versions of many of the same songs. The first batch on disc one was recorded way back in 1990 and on the second disc the recordings are from the current year of 2011. The main difference in the songs is the production. It is amazing how similar they sound when separated by so many years.

Their bio sheet lacks a ton of information in terms on anything that happened after 1991. As a matter of fact, it says absolutely nothing about the year 2011 other than what you see here, which consists only of the song titles and the order in which they are played. That is it, nothing more. I am left shaking my head at this whole thing. Why would the record company not mention the contents of the second CD, why it was recorded, who plays on it, and so on.

All of that preamble aside, this is very good look at the raw sounding heavy metal that came from England in the late 80's. There is a ton of energy and punch to the songs. None of the songs were written to receive airplay, this is an underground heavy metal band that had self financed all of their albums (demos) until this year. What you have here is the best of their demo sessions. That much is stated in their biography. I love me some old school metal from England. Many of my favorite bands come from there, SAXON, BLACK SABBATH, IRON MAIDEN, DEEP PURPLE, and JUDAS PRIEST. England is the birthplace of heavy metal and it seems to be in the DNA of the country's population. SLANDER isn't as good as the bands I mentioned, but the formula is there. The main difference is the production and overall sound quality.

SLANDER has many of the lyrics to their double CD release in their promo and they are quite good.  Not every song has lyrics, but the ones that do show that SLANDER knows what they are doing. One great reason to buy this record is to hear the re-recordings and the stand alone songs. You have a wide variety of music with a very long running time of over 90 minutes. I am not saying this is a cheap best of compilation, it is full priced and it is worth it. This is a band that fell in the cracks and got lost. They remind me of ANVIL, great music, but for decades no one seemed to get it. Of course SLANDER doesn't have a documentary movie release to bring them into the public eye, but they do have a similar past of being totally unappreciated. Hopefully SLANDER will get a second chance with their return to the metal scene.

Overall I have to recommend this album. If you like it old school with nothing but Bass, Guitars and Drums, and a raw sounding production, then you will really enjoy it. The vocals are the strongest part of this double CD. I honestly can't believe that Steve Slater wasn't in high demand. He really has a great voice and makes it a joy to listen to his singing. Sometimes these retro releases are like finding a lost piece of treasure; this is one of those times. SLANDER rocks.