3 out of 5

Label: Kemado Records

Produced by: Pedro Mena, Steve Pestana

It is time, once again, to opine on what I believe makes for a good music compilation, starting with: intent.

I’m casting my mind (and wiki references) back to the ancient era of 2005, when Kemado released this Invaders compilation, spotlighting knowns, unknowns, and up-and-comers in the stoner rock / throwback metal scene – a roster that’s frankly even more impressive now, meaning a lot of these groups had definite staying power.

But while some of these groups appeared on Kemado, not most of them; and obviously there’s musical theme here, but otherwise this is bundled under an amusing “narrative” (as scribed by Ian Christe) that sort of pitched these bands as – hence the title – the invading front of ‘true’ metal warriors. Thus: this isn’t a label comp, or a sampler: it is, fittingly, an old school style comp that’s just gathered by some tastemaker to say, “here’s stuff I like.” And if you happen to vibe with their tastes…

So I’m down with the concept: it’s clear, and unifying.

But what about the contents?

…And that’s where this gets majorly dinged. Because, firstly, the sequencing frontloads a lot of moderately similar sounding acts together, and, secondly, this is a genre with a lot to offer, but I’m not quite sure you’d know it from this set, which leans heavily into Sabbath knocks. This also isn’t absolutely problematic, but it draws a crisp line between those who add to the formula, and those who don’t, meaning it’s not always a favorable spotlight.

When the set does sidestep into metal boogie (Dungen), or hair metal (Diamond Nights), it’s a nice break; you also get Pelican, though, who I love, but feel out of place here, especially this particular cut, which is pretty subdued.

There’s a sense, then, that this works best as an, “if you know, you know” comp, i.e. better if you’re already familiar with these acts. How to otherwise explain something like Comets On Fire’s Wolf Eyes (Middle Version), which is so horribly recorded as to almost sound like noise? I can’t imagine this earning many new fans.

…Leading to the last criteria: discoverability. Invaders includes websites for most of its bands, but I wish there’d been more notation of what was released and what wasn’t; the notes here seem pretty haphazard. Then again, maybe all of this was unreleased at the time…

The known quantities on Invaders makes for an impressive showcase of stoner metal. Familiarity with the bands (and how they sounded at this point – Black Mountain and The Sword changed quite a bit, for example), and tolerance for a mostly narrow take on the genre probably help; it can otherwise feel a bit tiresome beyond some standout single