SOOTHSAYER — Have A Good Time (review)

SOOTHSAYER — Have A Good Time album cover Album · 1989 · Thrash Metal Buy this album from MMA partners
3.5/5 ·
Vim Fuego
Canada — the land of ice hockey, horse–riding policemen dressed in red, polar bears, and a highly underrated metal scene.

OK, so there are the obvious candidates, like Voivod, Annihilator and Devin Townsend, but what do you know of Soothsayer? Not a hell of a lot? Me either.

The band first came to Metal–dom's notice on the 1986 'Thrash Metal Attack!' compilation, with a short but crazed demo track. Three years later, 'Have A Good Time' came and went, with hardly a blip on the radar screen.

This band sound slightly insane; imagine the rhythm guitar from Slayer's 'South Of Heaven' played by Les Claypool from Primus (yes, I know he's a bass player…). Add to that one of those crazy, smelly guys who stands on a street corner shouting about God, but in French. Next, pretend Anthrax's rhythm section had little brothers who played ice hockey. Starting to get the picture? Utterly confused? It takes a few listens to understand, but is highly addictive.

Perhaps the biggest thing counting against Soothsayer was their grasp of English. It's a little tenuous at the best of times, and utterly hilarious when they really fuck things up. On "Buzz Fly" for example, "Now my fly said I'm hungry, it can't eat pizza and Pepsi/Pet shop doesn't have the food, so I give it seven toast crumbs". The pet fly in that song was so depressed about the state of the world it committed suicide. It seems entirely possible the band wrote songs in French first, where they made a bit of sense, but then the meaning was all lost (or gained, depending how you look at it) in translation.

Elsewhere, there is a tale of a pizza–faced teenager, his affliction caused by eating too much pizza, who sprays zit juice on people he doesn't like. There is a more serious side too. "101" is sung mainly in French, about establishing French as an official language in Quebec.

Short and sweet as this was, ‘Have A Good Time’ is quite memorable. Unfortunately, as history has shown, Soothsayer weren’t destined for great things.
Share this review
more

Review Comments

Post a public comment below | Send private message to the reviewer
Please login to post a shout
No shouts posted yet. Be the first member to do so above!

Review Index

Member Zone

Username:
Password:
Stay signed in

Metal Subgenres

Artists Alpha-index

MMA TOP 5 Metal ALBUMS

Rating by members, ranked by custom algorithm
Albums with 30 ratings and more
Master of Puppets Thrash Metal
METALLICA
Buy this album from our partners
Paranoid Heavy Metal
BLACK SABBATH
Buy this album from our partners
Moving Pictures Hard Rock
RUSH
Buy this album from our partners
Powerslave NWoBHM
IRON MAIDEN
Buy this album from our partners
Rising Heavy Metal
RAINBOW
Buy this album from our partners

New Metal Artists

New Metal Releases

Hin helga kvöl Atmospheric Sludge Metal
SÓLSTAFIR
Buy this album from MMA partners
The Cycles of Suffering Black Metal
BURIAL OATH
Buy this album from MMA partners
The Suns of Perdition - Chapter IV: To Shadow Zion Black Metal
PANZERFAUST
Buy this album from MMA partners
Facilis Descensus Averno Death Metal
SAEVUS FINIS
Buy this album from MMA partners
Merciless Crossover Thrash
BODY COUNT
Buy this album from MMA partners
More new releases

New Metal Online Videos

DAWN OF REVENGE - Sanctuary [official music video]
DAWN OF REVENGE
Bosh66· 5 days ago
DAWN OF REVENGE - Farewell [official music video]
DAWN OF REVENGE
Bosh66· 5 days ago
DAWN OF REVENGE - Curtain of Death - [official music video]
DAWN OF REVENGE
Bosh66· 5 days ago
DAWN OF REVENGE - Vengeance [official music video]
DAWN OF REVENGE
Bosh66· 5 days ago
DAWN OF REVENGE - I Need You [official music video]
DAWN OF REVENGE
Bosh66· 5 days ago
More videos

New MMA Metal Forum Topics

More in the forums

New Site interactions

More...

Latest Metal News

members-submitted

More in the forums

Social Media

Follow us
Follow us on Twitter Become a Facebook fan RSS Feed