Say Uncle

Perhaps the greatest aspect of the 80s was the line that was frequently crossed between the Bay Area thrashers and their hardcore brethren just across the way. While many are quick to point to the exploits of S.O.D. as among the more auspicious outfits to wander their way into crossover territory, there was a good number of bands from both the west and east coast that were too busy breaking down barriers to be bothered with adhering to a particular scene. And while Fight and Pantera may have been lauded as pioneers in bringing the thrash sound to a somewhat more accessible format, it was the likes of Uncle Slam and Suicidal Tendencies (and to a lesser extent the Cro-Mags) that first tamed the wild beast and managed to turn it into something moderately intelligible.

Sporting Uncle Sam in a more muscle clad physique as their mascot, this group of Californians decided to bring their own unique on thrash metal oriented cynicism, depicting America's idol as a pissed off jock that would inspire jeers more than cheers. But the musical package tends to inspire the latter more than the former, dishing out a mixture of tough guy punches and occasional grooving kicks as it unleashes upon the head of whosoever hears it. Guitarist and shouter Todd Moyer is the chief attraction here, throwing out an impressive handful of Motorhead meets Exhorder style guitar lines and lead guitar assaults to rival the more competent members of the mainline thrash scene. This is a band that manages to be a good bit more nimble than Black Flag, though comparisons to said early hardcore pioneers naturally come into play.

There's more than enough auditory treats on here to keep the average, rabid old school adherent satisfied, but what is really intricate about this album is how much of the future is being anticipated on here. The more mid-tempo range of ideas, combined with a few outright down tempo groove ideas oozing out of "Weirdo Man" and "Micro Logic" definitely hint at what was coming in the next couple years, the latter actually flirting with Beasty Boys territory in the vocal department. For the most part, the bulk of the contents on here mostly remind of early 80s Motorhead, particularly the really animated cookers like "Judgment Day" and "The Prophecy", but the occasional slower, Black Sabbath oriented riff set is not altogether uncommon on here as well.

While this leans pretty heavily towards the slower, more half-thrash oriented side of the coin that became more prominent in the early 90s, this is an evenly built neck-wrecking machine that's every bit as good as the coinciding Suicidal Tendencies albums that were tearing it up at around the same time. Sure, this side of the thrash coin eventually paved the way for a lesser form of music, but much like a lot of other earlier efforts, this is possessed of far more positives than negatives and would easily complement a collection that also includes the likes of Overkill and Anthrax.

The United States Of America were just great in the 80s for the vast number of thrash and hardcore bands. Every day there was something new that came out on the scene for the happiness of those who loved this music. There were anyway, several almost unknown bands in this genre because sometimes the panorama was so crowded that few bands really reached the status of “well known bands”.

For example, check out how many bands came out after the explosion of crossover/hardcore/thrash at the beginning of the 80s thanks to more famous bands like Suicidal Tendencies and S.O.D. We had Excel, M.O.D. and these Uncle Slam just to cite few of them. They were famous in the underground but the risk was the step of time…going on, there was the risk that the people could forget about them and that happened a bit. Anyway, now let’s get back to the music here done, in this debut “Say Uncle”.

The main word in the 80s was “zero innovation” in this kind of metal. So, take everything that the first and the second wave of thrash metal did and mix it with hardcore. Stop. That’s all. The thrash metal survives in the palm muting riffage and the speed restarts. The tempo is usually quite punkish on these parts but never annoying. Also the vocals are not too punk like in Excel band for example but quite rough and not so childish. This band overpowers Excel in any ways, just to let you know…

“Weirdo Man” is an impulsive opener, more focused on the sheer impact of the fast drums and the tempo changes. The following two songs are more thrash in the patterns and more mature with good tempo changes and good bass drum work. Sometimes the vocalist imitates a bit Lemmy of Motorhead for the rough tonality in my opinion…but maybe I’m wrong, it’s just an idea that I wanted say when I listened to these songs.

Talking about the production, it’s very good and quite pounding especially for the rhythmic guitars riffage and the hammering drums. They are the true thrash fundaments in these songs while the hardcore lies mostly on the vocals and for this check the perfectly balanced “Micro Logic” and “Contaminated”. These songs are usually quite short and total impact for style with simple and fast guitars solos. “Up From Beneath” is the most mature and complete song here with plenty of thrash influences, galloping guitars and excellent refrain.

All in all, it’s not a necessary album but surely worth more that just a single listen. The true thrashers will love it for the sincerity, the sounds and the attitude. It’s always good to discover other bands from the 80s in thrash metal because in that period everything was still so pure and sincere, without the annoying mix of diverse genres like it happens nowadays.

I had never heard of this band before. I found them by accident really, and I could have lived without them. Uncle Slam had members from Suicidal Tendencies and one of the members left to be in the Beastie Boys.

The overall feel of the album is generally good; I can’t really say that there is a dull point on the album. But the main problem is with the majority of the album being unoriginal. Coming from the Bay Area they were part of the American thrash boom, and as we all know not all the bands from there are actually good. This is why I was surprised when I first started listening to the album, I was headbanging. But upon listening to a couple tracks I found out that there are either a bunch of stolen riffs from Bay Area thrash bands or just a shitload of coincidences. Uncle Slam does seem to have their own style to an extent. They like to differentiate between a really slow breakdown speed and then play as fast as they can. The instruments do not sound bad wither as if they don’t know what they are doing.

The first song, Weirdo Man made me bang my head then giggle a little bit. Why you must ask?

You're so week
You're a geek
You're a creep
Stupid freak

That’s just the chorus, the rest of the song is just as stupid. The next song, The Ugly Dude, is retarded as well, because it is about a total twatmouth that no one likes at school, then he kills the next person who laughs at him, she happens to be a hot chick, yea lame lyrics. The lyrics are mostly about killing people or death in general, except for Judgment Day which has some finely written lyrics. Well besides the fact that all the lyrics seem very elementary, I guess they fit the music well. The vocals vary a little bit, sometime we have a mix of Lemmy and Angelripper, and other times they sound like Anthrax, they often throw in the gang shouts that don’t even sound cool. The best song on the album would have to be Up From Beneath, coincidentally it is the longest song on the album; this song was written very well, the lyrics are good and there are three solos in their, two of which are the shorter variety.

The guitar tone is very nice sounding. Well I guess everything sounds nice because they have good production. First I must say there are some very good sounding solos on here, most of which are very short but still sound cool. But the guitarist knows how to play even if he did borrow some riffs. Examples of borrowed riffs are on The Prophecy, where there is riffs in there a striking resemblance to Slayer’s Raining Blood. Also Micro Logic is a total rip off of Anthrax’s I’m the Man, actually when I heard the song the first time I thought it sounded like the Beastie Boys too, later I found out the drummer left to be in the Beastie Boys, what a coincidence. There also seem to be mixed in riffs from many other thrash songs from popular bands like Metallica, Megadeth, and I think I caught an Exodus riff in there. I just can’t seem to remember the names of the songs they are from.

Well the drums are nothing spectacular, basic thrash style playing. The are extremely repetitive within each song, like every song seems different but the within the whole song the same beat applies. The drummer could be more versatile, it would be nice to here something besides the same beat the whole song and then maybe a breakdown which is just the same beat slowed down a lot.

Comments on the bass, well the bass is satisfactory. Nothing spectacular like I am finding a lot lately. He plays the speed of the other instruments and it is tuned fine, nothing wrong there other than the bass is just following the rhythm.

Overall the album is decent, with the amount of borrowed riffs it seems like the album wouldn’t be original at all. But that is not the case, the songs do sound like they are their own. I would recommend giving this album a listen, if you are into the Bay Area thrash then you might enjoy this album. The album seemed to kind of drag on while only being 35 minutes long, but at least it doesn’t fly by. Just give the album a try it isn’t that bad.