Dumpster Diving - My Life in the Bargain Bins: Featuring The Lorries, Gun, and Salem Mass

Another installment of random finds that I pulled out of the bargain bins for less than $2 -- Good digging to be had.  These are real time reviews, as I listen, so not all are positive, as some dumpster finds may make their way right back to the bargain bin.  But it's finding that one or two gems that keeps us all digging.
The Lorries - Crawling Mantra
First release by goth/industrial rockers Red Lorry Yellow Lorry, finds these fiercely pounders in fine form.  Four songs of crushingly heavy post-Joy Division post-punk with more than a touch of Goth.  A big nod to Killing Joke here with the pounding, tribal drumming (as on Hangman or the frenzied drum and bass workout of Shout at the Sky) and it couldn't be any better for it.  Dancefloor friendly, if your dance is a gothic spasm of pain.  Vocals directly from a lost horror film in their baritone vibe.  Think Tones on Tale but with more muscle or a friendlier Killing Joke and you'll get the flavor.  Terrifying and danceable at the same time.
Four tracks of pure vintage industrial goth.  Definitely a good find for $1.99

Gun - S/T
We just don't hear enough about these guys.  Adrian and Paul Gurvitz (then called Curtis) in their pre-Three Man Army/Baker Gurvitz Army days.  Simply freaked out late 60's heavy psych with more than a nod to the developing scene of proto-metal.  "Race With the Devil"is simply a stone cold classic cut of blistering psych guitar and madness.  The album is a slightly awkward mix between the muscular (Yellow Cab Man) and the string heavy/horn heavy attempts at more traditional psych pop (Rupert's Travels) , but it's never less than interesting.  Of course, I'd rather the whole album follow the explosive path of Race with the Devil, but either way it's as a definite lost classic in the era bridging true psychedelia and metal.  It was an interesting time in music as old traditions were dying and something heavier and meaner was being born, and this album captures that schizophrenic transition perfectly.  This is a former radio station copy from WJMD and the cover is a tad beat, which explains why I was able to pull it out for only a buck.

Salem Mass - Witch Burning 
Ok, I'm cheating here, I paid full price for this one, but I'm spinning it right now and gotta share the word.  Way early, heavy psych, protometal - proto-doom, Moog prog freakout album form 1971.  Reissued and remasterd on Guerszen Records. This should appeal to any fan of Iron Claw, Uriah Heap, Atomic Rooster, or new bands in the prog doom vein like Bloody Hammers.  Sometimes real plodding true doom (Witch Burning) sometimes near jazzy and proggy (You're Just a Dream), this is always a madhouse of downtuned guitars, swirling Moog synths, freaked out vocals and despair.  "Bare Tree" plows through it's downtempo doomfest like a lost Atomic Rooster cut.  "Witch Burning" lays a heavy ode to proggy doom like Lucifer's Child.  I'm a huge fan of proto-metal so I bought this on a lark without ever hearing a cut, I'm not disappointed.  And if you like the band's I mentioned, neither will you be.
--Racer.