There Is No Such Thing As

Album review

In the late ‘80s, Delicious Vinyl had a reputation for being a West Coast rap label; Delicious, after all, had been the home of Los Angeles-based MCs like Tone-Loc, Young MC, Body & Soul and Def Jef. But head honchos Michael Ross and Matt Dike weren't interested in putting out rap exclusively, and the early ‘90s found Delicious branching out into R&B with the Brand New Heavies and rock with Spinout and the Bogeymen. Although the Bogeymen were obscure, the band included two ex-members of the better known Masters of Reality: drummer Vinnie Ludovico and singer/guitarist Tim Harrington. The Bogeymen's debut album, There Is No Such Thing As the Bogeymen, received very little attention, which is regrettable because the band (whose other members were bassist Greg Creamo Liss and keyboardist George Rossi) was a decent heavy metal/hard rock outfit with strong early ‘70s leanings. This 1991 release was a departure from most of the metal and hard rock that came out in the early ‘90s; the Bogeyman weren't pop-metal any more they were thrash, grindcore, death metal or alternative metal. Instead, There Is No Such Thing As the Bogeymen is a throwback to early metal, and the comparisons range from Deep Purple and Black Sabbath to Cream, Budgie, Uriah Heep and Jimi Hendrix. Although melodic, bluesy tracks like "Dancing on Your Grave," "Suck You Dry (She Will)" and "Killing Ground" were recorded in the early ‘90s, they sound like they could have been recorded 20 years earlier. The Bogeyman weren't the least bit groundbreaking, but they were good at what they did--and this likable, if derivative, effort didn't deserve to be ignored.

© Alex Henderson /TiVo