Vincebus Eruptum

Some fun highs but also some really annoying lows. Standout track: doctor please

2/3

Intressant som tidig influens för vad som kom senare, men ingen höjdare i sig.

Säkert revolutionerade, men inte mer än en svag 3a för mig.

Not bad, but nothing really memorable. Favourite Track(s): Out Of Focus Least Favourite Track(s): Doctor Please

This was alright, but I didn't love it. Three stars.

Not much to love here. Messy derivative blues rock. You can say it's the first hard rock album; but I couldn't find a single song I would want to return to

fuzzy ass album. got bored and it was the shortest album i've listened to so far. never a good sign. 2.42/5

Good on about half the time. The rest is noise

Some cool moments, but otherwise just kinda droned on

Great album cover, the lighting is tough af and the purples really go well together. The font choice on both the album and band are creative. This album is mediocre, not bad in the slightest. I do wonder how Blue Cheer got on this list though, at time of writing they have 50k monthly listeners, which is extremely low. Their top song is less than 10m streams and other than Summertime Blues, its 1.5m. This is not to say small artists do not belong in the top 1000, but how did they even get found? AND this was 1968. Wouldnt listen to this again, its good, but thats about it. The guitar solos were not fantastic, especially not great on Second Time Around, but I do like the singers voice. In Parchment Farms he sings about shooting his wife and how nobody cared she was gone. Interesting song choice there. Best Song: Summertime Blues. Worst Song: Parchment Farms.

A mix of electric, psychedelic, and some high intensity vocals. I feel as though being sober while listening to this album is a fail. I failed.

Jimi Hendrix without the voice… or guitar skills… or lyrics… or any talent whatsoever. The fuzzy, partly metal, guitar is enticing at first, but it quickly loses steam and turns dull. The songwriting is confusing and poor. It results in a forgettable album full of songs that are just okay.

Nothing really stood out. Typical 60s faff.

"...heavy thunderous blues, later known als Heavy-Metal..."

Didn’t really sound good but didn’t sound bad

I’m glad I listened to it from a historical perspective however I didn’t really care for it. 2.5

Heavy rock record

Pretty generic psych blues rock. Perhaps an innovative sound, but the MC5 did it much, much better.

Early hard rock n roll and psychadelia and metal. Some songs, like Summertime Blues, aren't tight enough for me. But most of the album is the kind of early rock I love. 4/5

This really starts to drag at points. I feel like this is just peddling along with more rhythms getting layered on top, it just becomes noise at a certain point. What is with these lyrics as well? This is like the third album this week. I've had that has some like unlistenable lyrics. Saying that this album is not that bad. I mean, it's not a compliment, it's bad, but it's not awful. Fav Track: Out Of Focus

There’s a general rule of thumb with this list, that if there’s a sixties band that you haven’t heard of, then there’s generally a good reason for it. In this case, aside from an entertaining hard rock cover of Summertime Blues by Eddie Cochran, the rest of the album manages to be tedious and overblown which is quite a trick when it’s only half an hour long. File under historical curiosity only.

A nice discovery, even if I'm not quite sure what to make of it. On one hand, I'm a total sucker for this kind of psych / acid rock, especially when it clearly veers into proto-metal and stoner territory. I didn't know Blue Cheer, and I'm surprised they retained so little fame despite being pioneers in their own right. On the other hand, this feels a bit too much like a work in progress, or a transitional album. The instrumental parts still sound hesitant at times, coming dangerously close to being Hendrix knock-offs, but with less talent and inspiration. The vocals are pretty weak, still mired in old-school blues rock, which in my opinion keeps the band from reaching the new territory they're trying to explore. Overall, I think they were clearly onto something, and they could almost have been Black Sabbath before Black Sabbath... almost. But they didn't quite have what it took, and more talented bands beat them to the "forefathers of metal" title. A missed opportunity, but still a genuinely interesting listen. I need to give it another spin one of these days. 6/10

Ferociously boogie driven, and somehow I had never really explored these pioneers before. It instantly reminds me of Hendrix and Sabbath, although of course Hendrix was already very much there. Over-saturated, dirty blues that surprisingly holds together despite the sheer heaviness. You can almost feel the kick drum vibrating, the fat bass and that dissonant Gibson. It works really well at first, although it gets a bit tiring after a few tracks. That muffled, suffocating sound eventually wears me down. Still, I’m definitely the target audience for this shit. At times it’s so stoner, something that wouldn’t feel completely out of place next to Kyuss, and I really dig it. Just not something I would listen to every day.

Another surprise! I was familiar with their cover of Summertime Blues but I really liked the sludginess of the entire album. 4/5

Чувачки

Some great blues rock tunes

Found this pretty unremarkable

What is this? Just random noise making…

Not bad

Some say this is the first heavy metal album and I would disagree. It certainly is heavy for the time but what black sabbath and even led zeppelin did a few years after sounds WAY closer to actual metal than this. This album is more like heavy blues rock. And its kinda fun for a while but once youve heard like the first 2 songs youve basically heard all the album already. Its good but the mix is rough on the ears and it aged badly Eruptum deez nuts/5

めっちゃサイケ！ってかんじ。ギターは常に歪んでるしベースとかドラムの音もでっかい。あんまりかも 音がデカくても、何か他のコンセプト的なのがあれば許容できるけど、音がでかいのがコンセプトだからそれ以上も以下もなくて終わりって感じ。

Not sure what I expected but enjoyed it. Early rock that can't definitely feel influenced later stuff. Not sure I want to listen again, but it was a good time

Ok album

This is barely listenable drug-fueled wannabe Deep Purple garbage. They didn't even hardly try.

Decent psychedelic rock, but it’s not my favorite genre. Gritty sound fits the style

Some solid late 60s rock but I get why it doesn't get remembered alongside some of the truly exceptional records from this time.

Psych rock...meh

This was pretty rockin’ late 60s psychedelic vibes and I enjoyed the listen. Closer to a 3.5 but didn’t quite hit 4 territory.

Awful record. The guitarrist is very, very untalented.

Alright, so this is definitely something indeed. Heavy - yes, but also this is basically a blues album and I still think Sabbath earns the cake for the first metal album. But of course, this is very good, at least 3 stars for sure, and at least 3.5 on RYM, I imagine if I was rating this when it came around in 60s it would have a much bigger rating, but a lot has happened since then!

Fuck is this man...

Early hard rock, fuzzy but too loud vocals. I guess its influential, but on a sound that turned to shit quick enough. Mostly covers, I imagine the lack of decent original lyrics was a thing that held these back. 3 Heard before? No Owned: No, 108/425 (25%) Will I get: No

Not really sure what's special about this album. Poorly recorded, samey sounding compared to others in the genre of the time, and pretty inspiring. Inoffensive, but there was nothing here worth coming back to for me Best I can do is ⭐⭐.51

Anscheinend das erste Heavy Metal Album. Ein paar gute tracks/parts sind dabei, aber viel random noises die eher an Trash Punk erinnern

😃

I dont know a lot about this album. People say its early heavy metal - I'm not sure why. It sounds like psychedelic rock to me. Hard to review this album objectively not understanding the significance of its release creating a new genre. However, it's not a bad album.

some very solid, and sometimes even great moments, but there are more than a few occasions where it feels rather primitive and bland.

Ok mais dans les 1000?

Wow, it sure would be a huge scoop if they invented heavy metal in San Francisco during the 60s along with everything else they were up to down there. Shame that it’s actually just uninteresting hard psychedelic blues (yet more from that scene) poorly recorded so all the layers of fuzz and the rest of it become a complete wash to the ears. Barely over half an hour and still felt like a waste of time honestly.

Not sure what they're doing here that Hendrix and Cream weren't doing better at the same time

great bluesy psychedelic album

5/10 – Mediocre

I’d rate this 3.5 if I could. Has a few decent moments, but somehow overstays its welcome at barely over 30 minutes. This probably sounded amazing when it was first released but unfortunately has not aged well.

Fine, again I get the importance but the songs themselves are just fine.

It had some above three star moments, and these guys are clearly just making the music they want to. But overall? Meeeeeh… I’ve often wondered if this band “got” Parchman Farm when they covered it. Mose: “I’m going to write a song in which the narrator talks about how unfair it is they are in prison and saying they didn’t do anything. Maybe you have some sympathy for them. Then, at the end, you realize they are there for killing their wife and are actually a monster who doesn’t value the life of women.” These guys: (immediately) I’m in Parchman Farm for killing my wife. Several more minutes of song.

This may be a foundational album for helping to birth heavy music and metal, but in the end, it's just standard late 60s blues rock that wasn't recorded all that well. Given what it is, it's not bad, but on the road of heavy music, it's a milepost I'm more likely to pass by than linger at.

No, thank you. Tried to find a redeeming quality. Failed.

1967 hard rock, tries to be everything to everyone Summertime blues Doctor please

2,5

2/5.

Not great lol

a convincing case for turning things up way too loud.

I didn’t care for the songs much overall, it’s pretty much impossible that an album called something like Vincebus Eruptum is going to be a great listen. It’s like Moby Grape, or Vanilla Fudge. Those guys probably all knew each other. That said I’m a guitar guy, and I found a lot of the Tone pretty Sick, so I’ll be generous.

Outside of Summertime Blues, it was 35 minutes is the same thing

Een beetje op een drumstel rammen en je gitaar daaroverheen laten krijsen. Niks leuks aan

Super hard. Het hele album is de playlist in gegaan. Denk dat ik er later in het verhaal nog wel 1 of 2 er uit haal. Voor nu, alleen maar bangers

I mean, it's not groundbreaking by today's standards, but back in '68, this shit must've sounded like Godzilla on a record player. Spins: 1 Playlist Additions - Summertime Blues - Rock Me Baby - Out of Focus

more interesting as archeology for heavy metal than "good" but some tracks got nice and noisy and violent.

Sloppy as hell. I liked the vocalist, but the guitar solos were practically atonal and the band had a terrible sense of tempo. Perhaps ahead of its time, but only in that they got there first. Just one year later, Led Zeppelin would take the same concept and knock Blue Cheer out of the water. Is this album important, or is it just an interesting footnote in the annals of rock?

593/1089 - The first power trio. It's not my style of music, and I'm not a fan of the production choices but given the time and history, it is pretty competent.

This was a very welcome surprise this morning. I’d never heard of Blue Cheer or Vincebus Eruptum before, but I really enjoyed this. Considering it was released in 1968, it’s incredible how heavy and modern it still sounds. There was something instantly familiar about it, even though I’d never heard the album before. It’s difficult to categorise exactly what it is — somewhere between Black Sabbath, Led Zeppelin and Cream, with a bit of psychedelic rock thrown in. You can certainly hear how this sort of sound helped pave the way for the heavier rock and metal that followed. The guitar playing is brilliant throughout. It’s loud, distorted and pretty filthy in places, but there are also some great riffs and plenty of melody underneath all the noise. The whole album has a raw energy that I really liked. “Summertime Blues” is a fantastic opener and a great version of the song, while “Rock Me Baby” and “Out of Focus” were other highlights. At only six tracks, the album is short, sharp and gets straight to the point. No filler and no chance for it to outstay its welcome. A great discovery and exactly the sort of album I love finding through this challenge. More than 50 years old and it still sounds exciting. Love it! Favourite tracks: “Summertime Blues”, “Rock Me Baby” and “Out of Focus”. Least favourite tracks: Nothing. Everything was good, short, sharp and to the point. Album artwork: Cool and simple. Very much of its time, but I like it.

2.5

pretty incredible to come out when it did, but kind of noodley

One song, a cover at that, should not get an album into the Top 1001. You had other hard rock bands like Zeppelin, Iron Butterfly, Deep Purple, etc so they weren't breaking new ground. They were a trio and loud, does that get you on this list? "Rock Me Baby" and "Parchment Farm" are also covers, so they wrong half the songs on the album. They truly sound like a cover band in a bar from start to finish. Everyone in said bar went to get a drink or take a piss right after "Doctor Please" started. No impressed and I don't think this one is worthy. Average vocals, weak songs, average musicianship, one hit, minor legacy. It's hard to not give it 2 stars, I want to give it 2.5 but I just can't.

Proto-heavy metal, and pretty fun. Short too! Favourite track: Second Time Around

This album consists of bluesy rock music (a classic-sounding variety) with elements of metal music thrown in. This was described as early metal, and I believe that because of its experimental nature. The fast drums and busy guitars come in out of nowhere on some songs, and the music is done in a meandering, sometimes out-of-tune way. I would say the blues was done intentionally, but then the band started jamming another way and left the metal-sounding stuff in there. The album does start out more bluesy and then devolves into the heavier sound pretty quickly, though.

I'm going to start this review with a bit of a complaint. I like this album, but boy, does it need a new remix. The panning was kinda awkward and the audio quality is just not great. Okay, complaining time is over. This album's kinda cool. It's not amazing, but I can definitely see value in this. Blue Cheer are a band that I've heard of a few times in the past, mostly in the conversation of "bands that may have invented heavy metal before Black Sabbath." As a bit of a metal fan, I'm happy to finally offer my input on whether Blue Cheer's debut album, 1968's Vincebus Eruptum, beat Sabbath to the "first metal album" goalpost. It didn't, but I can see where people are coming from. This is definitely some of the heaviest rock music you could find in 1968. The distorted guitars and energetic drumming definitely neared the limits of what had been done up to this point. Granted, Blue Cheer aren't exactly exclusive in doing this. Other 60s bands like Cream and the Jimi Hendrix Experience definitely had similar things going on, but the fact that Blue Cheer were even on their levels in terms of heaviness is pretty cool. Are they on those bands levels in quality? Not quite. This album's good, but it does just kind of happen. It's a cool novelty, but it also doesn't stick in my head that much. I did like it though. The aforementioned energy is pretty good and there are some cool guitar solos. The vocals and writing are pretty average though. Overall, I have a good deal of respect for Blue Cheer and I can definitely hear their influence on the first wave of heavy metal bands, but I think it's safe to say that they were surpassed in many ways. Good album though. High 3/5.

This genre is quite sexy - middling album though

Bridge between imitation blues and more developed heavy metal by the likes of Black Sabbath/Led Zeppelin etc.

++: Rock Me Baby, Parchment Farm +: Summertime Blues, Out of Focus, Second Time Around -: Doctor Please 6,1/10

This is a great hard rocking psychedelic wig out. Their version of Summertime Blues is probably the best. With the amount of noise they made, they were very ahead of their time in 1968. Liked Songs Added: Summertime Blues Doctor Please Second Time Around

I get that this is a Heavy Psych record, but did it need to have such a low sound quality? I want to believe that the constraints of technology of that time is the principal reason why this sounds as it does, because I refuse to believe they intentionally decided to destroy the sound of the drums... Either way, as muffled as this might be, it is a fun album. For a release from 1968, it is specially heavy. The voice has a lot of attitude, the guitar riffs are quite powerful and the drums (whenever I can distinguish what they are playing) are very frenetic. The bass has some nice lines as well, but it can be incredibly hard to identify. There are also some entertaining guitar solos and even the drums have a great moment in the last song. The best song I think is the first one, "Summertime Blues", as it is the one that feels the heaviest and works well as an introduction to the project, and the worst I'll say is the B.B. King's cover, just because I'm not a super fan of blues rock. Overall, a nice heavy psych album that definitely would benefice from a better production.

Are these guys the parents of the Black Keys and Jack White? Never heard of the album or the band, but I'll be keeping this one in my rotation for a while. A hidden gem.

Listened to this twice. Some good 60's rock that doesn't overstay its welcome.

Eh

love it, psychedelic and stuff

Historically interesting only

Why?! A bunch of loud noodling- sounds like middle school kids recording a jam on a karaoke machine. The double guitar solo on out of focus is hilarious -it like a field recording from guitar center. I guess that can be cool sometimes but I don’t get why we should listen to it. Sounds like they had fun making it at least.

Probably being harsh but this sounds like absolute shit. Why on earth would anybody listen to this when there is hendrix and zeppelin and cream and beck?? So many people have done this a million times better and at the exact same time. Totally irrelevant. Guitar sounds like shit, drums are horrible, vocals are obnoxious

This fell really flat for me.

Enjoy these lesser known albums that influenced everything but also feel like I’ll never return to them. This one more likely than others though.

Serious question how many god damn artists have covered Summertime Blues like enough of this shit already

Does have some good moments, and some bad.

Really good record

Why does this album sound like I've stuffed cotton balls in my ears? The guitars are interesting, and pretty impressive for the time, but they are just so muffled-sounding. Half of the tracks are covers - which I have nothing against, but the other tracks feel like they work quite as well. I've frequently praised long songs here, but these just feel like they drag on forever. There's got to be better proto-metal out there, right? I guess I'll remember this album for the next time I miss hearing my downstairs neighbor turn up the volume on his music way too loud, or for if a friend ever visits and says they're in the mood to listen to music from the other side of a solid door. It's great for experiencing what your hearing is like in the aftermath of a loud explosion. Innovative? Probably. Enjoyable? Eh... Favorite track: let's go with "Summertime Blues"

I’ve always considered Summertime Blues as a great straightforward song that is difficult to go wrong with. Turns out it you strip the tune away, throw in shit vocals you really can make a dirge out of it. The second track isn't much better and they are certainly more blue than cheer. ‘Doctor Please’ is unenjoyable and surprisingly long on a relatively short album, but the comparative brevity of ‘Out Of Focus’ doesn’t really improve things. Yes they might have been ahead of their time with this style of music, but they didn’t do it well, even the guitar noodling sounds crap.

I quite liked the cover of “Summertime Blues” but, otherwise, this was all just a bit loud and shouty for me to really enjoy. It’s probably a 1.5* album for me, but I didn’t hate it so…

So it has been established that I am a fan of cover versions that sound significantly different to the original. In the case of this Summertime Blues cover, I perhaps need to clarify 'but not like that'. And then following it up with another cover, which was better, but only by a fraction, was not a great start to an album for me. All of these psychedelic rock albums are starting to sound pretty much the same to me and the annoying noodly guitar solos infuriate me. 1/5

Not for me.