Mournful Cries

While Saint Vitus’ 1988 LP Mournful Cries was by no means a conventional album, it did embrace classic rock's climactic energy. “The Creeps” is a mighty explosion of a song that echoes both Black Sabbath's grandeur and the hurtling proto-punk propulsion of Led Zeppelin’s “Rock and Roll.” Zeppelin’s influence recurs in the pyrotechnic guitar work of “Dragon Time” and “Bitter Truth,” in which Dave Chandler’s leads appear like an arc of sparks from a welder’s torch. While doom metal had always been associated with medieval imagery, “Shooting Gallery” is almost a documentary in its portrayal of a tenement for junkies. That’s just one example of the band’s ability to subvert the fanciful aspects of heavy metal, which got St. Vitus shunned at the time but later made the group highly influential. While St. Vitus still proffered magnificently sluggish riffs, as on “Shooting Time,” it was obvious that the band was much more confident than it had been five years prior. Scott “Wino” Weinrich’s arrival as vocalist had changed something. Where once Vitus was proudly dull, songs like “The Troll” conceal a sharpened blade under the sludge.