Meliah Rage

Death Valley Dream (Backstreet)
by Chaz Thorndike

Ever get nostalgic about mid-’80s thrash like early Testament and Nuclear Assault? Gosh, I sure do. While I usually resort to locking the door and shutting off the ringer on the phone before blowing the dust off a few old faves and banging my head as in days of yore (and later sweep up the hair that falls out and call my chiropractor about the crick in my neck), perhaps you, the mid-’80s fan, would rather go out and buy the new Meliah Rage. Like my Shotgun Messiah collection, I do, in fact, own three full-length Meliah Rage CDs. The first, the one with the kindergardener’s drawing of an Indian on the cover, which I paid top dollar for in the late ’80s, the second, Solitary Solitude (Epic), which I paid 99¢ for (and wasted every penny musically, but have since gotten my almost dollar’s worth of chuckles out of merely mentioning the title), and now I’m the proud owner (mostly ’cause I doubt I could sell it for the price of a pack of gum) of Death Valley Dream on world-famous Backstreet Records, located in the musical mecca of Terryville, Connecticut. Bob Mayo, formerly of ’80s thrash throwbacks Wargasm, evidently popped in to play bass for the album, but I’m uncertain whether or not he’s a full time member. The four panel fold-out poster is a bonus as well. So if yer pissed that Metallica consider themselves too cool to be metal, perhaps Meliah Rage is the music to soothe the savage beast.