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Rating: I don't pretend to add anything more to what Bartle has written about this piece of dark metal. Just an unbridled tribute from someone who, for a few years now, is completely enthralled by Vitus and all that breed of slow-motion bands.
Let's start from the assumption that albums like "Born Too Late" remain, without a doubt, cornerstone records in the history of Doom Metal, and not only that, but the debut of these crazy Americans must nonetheless be listened to and savored to the point of nausea.
Born in 1979 as a band inspired by the slower hard rock (especially Black Sabbath and Blue Cheer) and certain punk/hardcore in the style of Black Flag, the group led by the then singer Scott Reagers, decided to change their name from Tyrant to Saint Vitus. The choice was not accidental: the band, despite the kilos of drugs they consumed and I think still consume, was animated by a "Christian-like" vision or in any case an anti-satanist view of Heavy Rock. Powerful and savage yes, but light-years away from the themes characteristic of Venom and Mercyful Fate.
With some money and a bag full of ideas, they released this self-titled album in 1984.
"Saint Vitus" opens the proceedings with the title track and it’s immediately a burst of acidic and screeching guitars, seasoned with a voice that knows how to scratch and leave a mark. A song dedicated to the martyr St. Vitus, the protector of musicians, so much so that in the chorus the name of the young Christian who was killed in 303 due to his unwavering faith is proudly repeated. Following the overwhelming track examined, comes a song that doesn't stray too far from the previously treated themes: “White Magic, Black Magic.” Another marvelous Doom piece influenced by the dark soul of Tony Iommi and company.
However, in the overall economy of this record, I would highlight the last two songs: "The Psychopath" and "Burial at Sea." Here we are faced with an expansive Hard-Doom beyond all imagination, psychotic, nervous, oppressive, and chronologically interminable. Something similar, as already written, can be found in the last tracks of "My War" by Black Flag but, in this case, it’s the zombifying horror that rules and makes us tremble. These two tracks alone are worth the purchase or at least the avid listening of “Saint Vitus.”
Black and monolithic work as our guys will never write again (in “Born Too Late," for example, apart from the singer, the sounds change partly and certainly the production), a work that makes our houses shake like the advance of a Panzer. And remember: it's been thirty-one years since the release of this album. Apart from Henry Rollins, in fact, no one at the time would have bet on the most pachydermic Angelenos in the history of rock'n'roll!
Tracklist and Lyrics
07 White Stallions (05:24)
White Stallions
(Chandler)
yesterday I saw my face
pictured in the sky
as I gazed upon myself
my whole life flashed by
I heard the sound of hoofbeats
from a thousand angry mares
before I could control my thoughts
my inner soul was theirs
white stallions
in my vein
white stallions
lord stop me
before I go insane
took me to the promised land
where everything is free
looked around and saw my friends
laughing loud at me
a great stone wall divided us
on their side was a dance
on my side was endless torture
guess I blew my chance
only time can ease the pain
the stallions left behind
tiny hoofprints on my arm
strung out in a line
wish that I could start again
and change my evil ways
trapped upon the stallion's back
'till my dying days
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