By JAY ROBERTS

The Cassette Chronicles is a continuing series of mini reviews and reflections on albums from the 1980’s and 1990’s. The aim of this series is to highlight both known and underappreciated albums from rock, pop and metal genres from this time period through the cassette editions of their releases. Some of the albums I have known about and loved for years, while others are new to me and were music I’ve always wanted to hear. There will be some review analysis and my own personal stories about my connection with various albums. These opinions are strictly my own and do not reflect the views of anyone else at Limelight Magazine.

LIZZY BORDEN – TERROR RISING (1987)

While I knew that this Lizzy Borden EP existed, I didn’t realize that it came out in 1987 until I was looking up research information for this article. The reason that struck me is because 1987 was also the year that the band released what is considered their masterpiece album Visual Lies.

I would tend to agree with that assessment of that album. It was actually the first one I heard and bought from the band and it still ranks as one of my own personal favorites.

So realizing that the Terror Rising EP came out in the same year was a bit strange because the releases are so diametrically opposed. While Visual Lies has incredible songs and strong production, Terror Rising is mostly made up of cover songs, remixes and a live track. And to call the production sound rough is a bit of an understatement.

Three of the songs on this EP came from previous releases. Things get going with a remixed version of the song “Give ‘Em The Axe” from the 1984 EP of the same name (I’ve written about that one for this series by the way). This new version is fine but it isn’t like it really brings all the much in the way of “new” to the song.

What follows that track is a cover of the Jefferson Airplane song “White Rabbit”. Now, I’m not strictly beholden to the idea that the original of a song is always the best but I’ve heard the original version of this song a lot over the years. While I can’t claim to be a huge fan of Jefferson Airplane or anything, I can say that this particular huge hit of theirs does NOT lend itself well to being covered in a heavy metal style. So as you might imagine, I really didn’t care for this one.

The first side of the cassette closes out with a live rendition of the song “Rod of Iron”. The song comes from the 1985 album Love You To Pieces as well as the Give ‘Em The Axe EP. I wrote that I thought it was the lesser of the five songs on that EP and I can’t say that the live rendition did much to improve my assessment of the song. When and/or if I get around to writing about the Love You to Pieces album, I’ll be interested to learn if the inclusion of the song on that release is a re-record or the same version that appears on the EP.

The second side of the cassette kicks off with the song “American Metal” which appears on the Love You to Pieces album and remains a song I love no matter how rough it sounds production-wise. Definitely a memorable anthem track from the band.

As much as I wasn’t enthused about the cover of “White Rabbit”, I was actually more impressed with the cover of “Don’t Touch Me There” from The Tubes. Maybe because the lyrics referenced leather or something made this feel more like a song that would suited to be a metal cover. With singer Betsy from the band Bitch as a guest performer the track as a duet came off pretty cool sounding to me.

The closing two songs are the only original songs included on Terror Rising. They really don’t offer much in the way of a preview of what was to come later in 1987 on Visual Lies though. “Catch Your Death” was a hard driving rocker that I ended up liking well enough but the EP’s title track was a grave disappointment to me. Most of the song was more of a spoken word performance with singer Lizzy Borden having a back and forth battle of wits with a voice in “his head”. It certainly keys into the group’s sense of the theatrical but I wish it had been more of a straightforward musical performance.

Overall, while not so bad that I regret listening to it, I wasn’t totally sold on Terror Rising but I am still glad to have it in the collection as where Lizzy Borden the band was coming from with another release before they unleashed the Visual Lies album.

NOTES OF INTEREST: Joey Vera, who at the time was the bassist with Armored Saint, played on the final three tracks of the EP’s second side.

Guitarists Alex Nelson and Tony Matuzak are credited on two tracks apiece on Terror Rising. Nelson passed away in 2004 while Matuzak died in 2021.