Vincebus Eruptum
Blue Cheer
1968
Album Summary
Vincebus Eruptum (; pseudo-Latin) is the debut album of American rock band Blue Cheer. Released on January 16, 1968, the album features a heavy-thunderous blues sound, which would later be known as heavy metal. A commercial and critical success, Vincebus Eruptum peaked at number 11 on the Billboard 200 albums chart and spawned the number 14 hit cover of Eddie Cochran's "Summertime Blues". Being an example of hard rock, it is also lauded as one of the first heavy metal albums. Spin magazine placed it at number 22 on their list of the 40 greatest metal albums.
WikipediaAnother album that stands out because of when it happened more than what it's doing. However, if you released this today and said it was a Jack White side project, no one would doubt you.
Kind of the missing link between Cream and Black Sabbath. Raw recording, love the imperfections. Favorite tracks: "Summertime Blues", "Rock Me Baby"
I'd heard of Blue Cheer but never heard them... can see why people say they beat Black Sabbath to making the first heavy metal album, but while they might have a similar sound to early sabbath they sure as shit don't have the songwriting. The first two songs are covers and the rest seems to be kinda droney, sludgey jam tracks - a 32min album that felt like it dragged on. My guess is they're all one-take jobbies, probably recorded live. Pretty much everything after the cover songs felt like a "big ending" that just kept going and going. 2/5.
Solid album, but you can definitely tell this was their first album. Rough around the edges, but some really great ideas in there and some powerful sounds. Favorite Tracks: “Summertime Blues,” “Doctor Please,” and “Parchment Farm”
Electrifying combo of blues, hard rock, and rip-roaring riffs and guitar solos. There's some ultra impressive drum work on here too, which I wasn't expecting.
The riffs come about slowly, dreadful and hyper-distorted, built around depraved melodies. One of the Bands that really starts playing Heavy Metal. (7/10) Favourite Tracks: Doctor Please, Summertime Blues, Out of Focus
7/10. this album is pretty heavy n stuff but it doesnt totally click with me. i think just because of the audio quality? idk if its just the mono mix that i got but it sounds even fuzzier and harder to make out than a lot of 60s stuff already does. plus the songs themselves arent amazing imo, tend to go on for a while. by a bit before halfway thru it just felt like a ton of fuzzy psychedelic noise goin in one ear and out the other. might just be bc i have trouble focusing on stuff though.
This is nice and heavy like Psychadelic proto-Fuzz. Definitely ahead of its time—you see the bridge from Cream to Black Sabbath. The drummer sounds does a great Ginger Baker impression. It’s Jammy, heavily distorted and short. Sometimes the jamminess comes off as repetitive and a little rough/unrehearsed. Pretty good. Would buy on Vinyl. B. 3.
Proto whatever your preferred genre of noise mess is. These guys make filthy, sludgy, gloopy rock--and all while looking like Hanson! Now if only they had a little of the blonde brothers' gumminess, this would actually be as crazy as they're trying to sound.
Not for me ... at the time I could see it as breaking new ground, maybe. From the current paradigm, it feels derivative of all influences that are contributing to the sound, its a half-formed thought of what music should be. I imagine I hate people that point to this album as life changing.
It's a very nice surprise to discover these pre-heavy metal bands that I did not know about before. An excellent album.
J'ai adoré le moment où le chanteur casse sa guitare et l'enflamme sur scène devant un public éberlué.
Oh Lord, I got to raise a fuss, Lord I got to raise a holler About a playin' proto heavy metal just to try to earn a dollar Oh Lord, I tried to destroy my amps, your ears I did abuse Sometimes I wonder what I'm a gonna do Lord, there ain't no cure for the early hard rock heavy ear-splittin' blues
Found this truly pointless. If this is the birth of Heavy Metal, I guess metal is hammy blues rock covers drenched in muddy guitar pedal effects.
These guys sure do sound like Hendrix and The Who did at that time. Summertime Blues is a dead ringer for The Who's live version. Let me guess, these guys saw Hendrix and The Who at the Monterey Pop festival (down the road from where they live), started to play like them and rushed an album out in time for the new wave of heavy metal? I like late 60s heavy metal. This is where it all started and it was original and exciting back then. I'm just not sure how much of the wave can be attributed to influence from these guys. They deserve a few points for how fleet footed they were jumping on the bandwagon.
Saved Prior: None Saved Off Rip: None Cutting Edge: Rock Me Baby, Out of Focus Overall Notes: Yeah this ain't it chief. Not as god awful as it was as background music the first time listening to it but definitely not my thing.
Third song should have been titled “Doctor Please … make this song stop”. I know it was early metal, but man these guys were clearly not good song writers. Summertime Blues cover is a classic though.
Direct and templated bluesy psychedelic rock from the '60s of which there is much too much on this list. Nothing distinguished here – not the vocals and the jamming is replacement level for the era. Maybe was influential the, but today is merely not bad and sorta boring.
Felt like it dragged on, even for such a short album. Typically a fan of heavy metal but didn't really enjoy this, only redeemable song was Out of Focus.
Wow, dit vind ik tof. Blues is niet mijn ding maar als j het zo speelt!! ook live gezien op Roadburn, fantastisch toen
Loved the album as a whole. Exactly what it needed to be. Second half of the last track was a little much for me but still giving it a 5.
It is uncanny how much the White Stripes sound like these guys. Never heard of them before but this album is fire.
Loved it! An early forerunner of lots of stuff I like, and one of the first power trios. Every song was great, but their version of summertime blues was greatest for me. Really intrigued to hear more of their stuff.
Whoa. Hard to find to listen to but it was worth the hunt - oh the fuzz and the fuzz - the drums pounding throughout and the voices tearing through this 30 min powerhouse of an album. I’m sold on blue cheer - kind of in the world of a more bluesy stooges and a rougher hendrix experience.
excellent hidden gem, hadn't heard about them before, but enjoyed the proto-heavy metal sound.
Vincebus eruptum, czyli pseudo lacinska translacja blue cheera, wiec pierwszy krazek bandy selftitlledowy w bardzo stonerskim klimacie, bo sam blue cheer to nazwa popularnego na rynku w tamtych czasach LSD, ktore rozprowadzal patronajt od gratefulowych deadow, wiec od tego pewnie wziela sie nazwa zespolu, ewentualnie od proszku do prania, ale to raczej elesdyk zabral nazwe od proszku, a potem banda go zabrala na wlasny uzytek, ale czym muzycznie jest niebieski doping, banda z 67 hameryka kalifornia, wiec klimaty dzieci kwiatow, ale na modle metalowa, sama plyte mozna podzielic na covery klasycznych rokowych trakow, jak sumertime blues cochrana czy parchmanowej farmy allisonona, ktora jednak bardziej kojarze z wersji blues breakersow mayalla i rock me baby b b kinga, wspolnym mianownikiem tych trakow sa ich bluesowe korzenie, to co robi blue cheer na tym materiale, to budowanie pomostu pomiedzy bluesem do metalu, z czego wyszlo acidowe rokowanie o poteznym brzmieniu, nie tylko jesli chodzi o decybele, ale takze o surowy styl granych tutaj rifow, ktore w niektorych miejsach, brzmia wrecz zeppelinowo, a to prawie dwa lata przed ich pierwsza plyta, wiec cheerowcy byli prawdopodobnie pionierami tego stylu grania, prosty z ostrym jebnieciem i energia, ktora czuc takze na wokalu pana petersona, ktory jako frontmen napisal takze 3 orginalne traki, ktore stanowia druga czesc krazka, jesli by go podzielic na covery i orginalne kompozycje, to wlasnie z tych orginalnych kompow mozna w pelni przyznac bandzie miano stonerow, bo tematycznie bardzo lekowo, zwlaszcza na doctor please, ktory brzmi jak litania drugersowa wierzacego kwasiarza, niestety nie moge dodac nic na spotifaja, bo zbyt podziemmna plyta, cale szczescie z pomoca kolejny raz przyszedl soulseek, wiec pobralem sobie dwie wersje, zeby miec porownanie, z 2k03 remaster z dodatkowym trakiem, all night long, oraz projekt audiofilow z nipona z roku 2k17, ktory polega na odtwarzaniu w mozliwie jak najlepszej jakosci zapomnianych a kultowych materialow i roznica w jakosci obu tych wersji jest kolosalna, remaster z 2k03 brzmi jak tanie stereo, bo jest to migracja z mono do stereo, a cos takiego praktycznie nigdy nie jest czyms dobrym dla materialu koncowego, natomiast japonska wersja to wymasterowane mono, ktore genialnie oddaje glebokosc sceny, czy zmiane kanalow, czy fejkowe endingi, zeby wrocic z rosnacym basem jak na second time around, jeden z hajlajtowych momentow plyty w moich uszach, wlasnie takich albumow chcialbym wiecej na liscie, przelomowych, a jednoczesnie niezbyt znanych szerokiemu gronu sluchaczy
Cool getting to know heavy metal origins... Guitar melodies were catchy
I personally hate the summertime blues song because I was forced to sing it over and over in elementary school. Other than that this band kind of rules. I had never heard of them but apparently they kind of started heavy metal. I probably won’t listen to this album much but I respect it. Talented musicians and all that. The drum solo and bass line in Second Time Around are fun.
SETE. CAMINHO ATRÁS DO PREJUÍZO. METADE NÃO SE OUVE, CRL CRL CRL CRL CRL CRL CRL CRL CRL VROOM VROOM POW KABOOM MotA: Out of Focus "Oh Lord, I got to raise a fuss, Lord I got to raise a holler"
Not available fully in my Spotify, unfortunately. Nothing too special, pretty much standard bluesy stuff except for being ultra dirty and garage. That's what I liked about it.
If Black Sabbath's debut is the birth of metal, then this album is it's conception. So how does it sound? Well, it sounds like blues. But not like blues but like... █▄▄ █░░ █░█ █▀▀ █▀ █▄█ █▄▄ █▄█ ██▄ ▄█ Ridiculously heavy and psychedelic, it's not that pleasant as a listen. Not to mention the vocals, which felt like they were mere decorations to the gigantic sound. Yet for some reason, it rocked me hard. And I enjoyed it quite a lot.
Fierce, noisy, classic. The album starts out ridiculously strong with that exceptional cover of "Summertime Blues" and burns beautifully to the end. Rough-edged and a little jammier than I generally like, but this was a solid listen. Fave Songs: Summertime Blues, Doctor Please, Rock Me Baby, Second Time Around
Blue Cheer doesn't get enough credit for how much they had to do with the start of metal. Gritty tones and raw recording from start to finish.
Surprised I've never heard of Blue Cheer. Really cool short album. Heavy for its time. Wasn't on Spotify.
Very heavy for '66. Couple interesting covers, but fun guitar work. Heavy Jimi vibes.
This is what I always imagined garage rock sounding like- a bunch of kids just learning to shred with the murkiest sound on earth. Forget that overpolished White Stripes and Strokes nonsense. It’s very primitive, and I assume it won’t be a lot of people’s thing, but I do like the protometal sound and I have fun with this. But I can’t really rate it higher than a C+, although I think that I’ll give it four stars to round out.
Super fuzzy, psychedelic, blues rock. Yeah, this is my jam. This is what this project is about for me: discovering the bands and albums that had huge influence, even if they weren't that commercial successful themselves.
Pretty impressed. I was excepting some Beatles knock-off, but it's basically like every song is Helter Skelter. I see the influence on metal and hard psych for sure.
Some of the heaviest, most unhinged rock you could hope to hear from its era. Blue Cheer were sort of at the vanguard of the turn towards a heavier, more primal rock sound for what must have been a matter of months before MC5 finally got their sound down on record to kick it up a notch. Hendrix and Cream presaged them of course, and Zeppelin also fits in there somewhere as well, but I'd argue what those bands were doing was a little more sophisticated. This sounds distinctly looser, and as such, is a ripping good time. The ultimate garage band.
Mannnn… so I’m alone in liking this one?? Oh well. I guess you guys won’t be joining my Blue Cheer fan club, which will be known as the Cheerleaders. You know you know want the semi-annual newsletter and free iron-on, dudes! Come on! Okay. Yes, this is a museum piece and yes this is proto-grunge and yes the last track is almost indefensibly indulgent. The whole thing just kind of sounds like crap. No argument. But it sounds like specific crap. And the crap I’m talking about specifically is Kyuss and the whole desert rock scene of the 90s. I like Kyuss and love a heck of a lot of Queens of the Stone Age tunes. I swear to God if you lopped off “Summertime Blues” and gave me a blank CD-R of this Blue Cheer album but told me it was an unreleased Kyuss demo I would 100% believe you. It sounds that close at times to me, especially with some of the lead guitar sounds. And in fact, I actually prefer the Blue Cheer vocals here to what John Garcia did on most Kyuss tracks. So, in some ways it’s superior. Genuinely liked it guys. Don’t know what else to say. Shawn Harwell Head Cheerleader
As pitchfork says, Blue Cheer are "musicians who... live not to perfect their technique, but to simply rock.". Well, that sounds GREAT to me. The playing is rough as guts and pretty over the top, especially the lead playing. Lots of bends and trills, feedback, barely in tune. The slow, heavy, vaguely blues based playing is a prototype for metal in general and stoner rock in particular. This is the shit. This sounds like they set up in a room, chucked a few mics in randomly and just started jamming it out. It's loud, noisy and obnoxious. And that's what I like!
4.1 - I hear danger in the wildly overamped guitar that constantly sounds like it could spill over at any moment into peals of terrible feedback. Leigh Stephens seems to push that guitar to its groaning/squealing edge. It's impossible to not hear the through-line between this record and Black Sabbath's debut. I also hear inspiration drawn from Hendrix and his guitar wizardry. Standout: "Doctor Please" (particularly the guitar breakdown in the last couple of minutes).
Pretty wild that this came out in '68. I can hear a lot of sounds that wouldn't be prevalent for years afterwards. This is a really cool mix of psych rock, proto-metal and blues. Dig it!
Heavy fuzz sound and almost sounds like a mix between stoner rock and heavy metal. Very proto-metal as it doesn't have the characteristic Black Sabbath early heavy metal sound but it's close. I found the quality of the recording to be lacking but that could be because I couldn't find the whole album on a streaming service. Maybe if I find it on vinyl it sounds better.
initially i was like “men yelling over weird guitars. 2” but then i found out they were one of the first to do it in this way?
It's rare to hear an album that is so clearly the origin point for a genre of music, but this one seems pretty clear. I've never heard an earlier album that sounded like heavy metal, and later heavy metal albums don't have the 60s psychedelic sound wrapped into them the way this does. All of the elements of what would become heavy metal are here. Even the overly grandiose album title is present. As far as the music goes, they put out a hell of a lot of sound for a trio. The production could be a bit better, and some of the songs could be a little more interesting, but at the same time they were clearly experimenting with something here they deserve a lot of credit for the innovation in their sound 4/5
Top 3 Songs: 1 - Rock Me Baby (2) 2 - Second Time Around (6) 3 - Summertime Blues (1)
Had some Deep Purple kinda vibes (I think, that's the first artist that comes to mind.)
Blue Cheer's restraint could be taken for the minimizing kind if it weren't for the final minutes of Vincebus Eruptum, the whetting of the appetite for more, and the perfect match to me in musical style and haircut.
Got some Hendricks vibes from this, whatever happened to this kind of guitar playing?
Sound was a bit limp in places, but energy wasn't. Love that this is proto metal.
The birth of heavy metal, and it was beautiful. A true power trio firing on all cylinders.
Really interesting album. At first it was hard to hear the influence on heavy metal, but it definitely grew to be like that as the album went on. I enjoyed the mash up of 60s sound, blues, and hard rock. Favorite track: Doctor Please
Damn I really like that whole album, listened 3 times, better each time!
That was a jam and I enjoyed the hell out of it. This is often cited as the first metal album and it's not wrong. It's proto-metal but all of the things that I love about metal are here. It's chunky and shreddy and fully off the leash and I really liked it. The only reason this doesn't get full marks is because the recording is an utter mess. It's just... so poorly produced. I suppose that can be forgiven to some extent since, at this point, nobody had ever recorded a metal album so nobody knew how. But it's still a real mess and I just can't quite give it 5 stars.
-Interesting to see the change in music, keeps blues style tunes with heavy guitar effects.
Decent early garage rock LP, some tracks reminded me of Ty Segall and Oh Sees.
musically this album was great but the singing and lyrics felt inconsistent, loud and very similar. solid psych punk rock. enjoyable.
Makes me think of drinking in Murph's dads garage. Great background music for that atmosphere. Not mad at it.
I can hear how this would have blown peoples mind in the 60s, a little tamer now.
Eh, not bad but ait forgettable, a very classic fuzzy-stoner intro though