Young Phantom

The 13th studio album of Kreator's enviable 30-year career, 2012's Phantom Antichrist is also the fourth long-player released since the group's triumphant rebirth to thrash in 2001 – a move that coincided almost perfectly with a worldwide genre revival driven by both veteran and rookie ensembles and that, as a result, saw these German survivors enjoying a long-deferred coronation for their almost unrivaled achievements. Now that trend – like all trends – has come and gone, and yet Kreator persist: still displaying, as the new material contained here bears repeated witness, 100 percent commitment to the original, metal-thrashing mad raison d'être that launched them in the first place…

Artist, producer, writer, arranger, musician, and all-around first-class baloney-thrower Kim Fowley was the man on the scene in Hollywood, CA, during the mid- to late '60s. This collection compiles 20 tracks from Fowley's solo recordings, circa 1966-1969. The collection kicks off with the garage punker "Underground Lady" from 1966, which, Fowley is happy to point out, was released before the Count Five's "Psychotic Reaction" and the Music Machine's "Talk Talk." "The Trip" is a fascinating bit of drug-laced ephemera ("Summer's here kiddies/It's time to take a trip," Fowley leers in the intro) and one of the CD's highlights. "Fluffy Turkeys" was the A-side of one of Fowley's singles for the Original Sound label and surely must have creeped out label honcho Art Laboe, who bailed on releasing a planned full-length album after hearing this slice of madness…