Hola amigos! Here's an amazing south of the border gem that my wife scored for me to help ring in a little holiday cheer. El Diablo's "The Devil Made Me Do It" picture disc LP. It's a wicked modern metal record that is stuck in the 70's in the best possible way. Released by the band in 1999 as a pressing of 300, the material was recorded live at the Fixion Club in Oaxaca, Mexico, in front of their 8 fans, their girlfriends and the wait staff at the bar. The music is an unholy mix of heavy metal dirge and hard rock riffing replete with psychedelic interludes and fuzzed-out bass tones. It's a gnarly amalgam of Blue Cheer, Black Sabbath and the first Metallica record with a heavy dose of Hawkwind and Krautrock. 
It's the kinda thing you've always hoped for but for some reason no band ever quite realized; that is, until El Diablo. I know very little about this band. There's a bio providing a bit of info on their website, which hasn't been updated since 2003 (click on the title above for link). I don't think they're still a band but for all intents and purposes - it just doesn't matter. They begat this impious slab of wax and are thus immortalized in stoner rock heaven (and they certainly were a hell of a band). I've uploaded the monsterous 12 minute epic, Mirror Love, which truly epitomizes this record.
EL DIABLO - Mirror Love
I now have a new hero. His name is Rambo. No, not everyone's favorite 'roid bloated geriatric, John Rambo, as portrayed by Sly. The Rambo I am infatuated with is a 20th Century ninja on a motorcycle with a penchant for red knit caps. This Rambo is the scruffy protagonist in Umberto Lenzi's Syndicate Sadists (1975). This Rambo is a true loner, rebel and all 'round outsider who allies himself with only the highest moral and ethical standards. He asks for no thanks or recognition; good deeds are done because they ought to be. Money means nothing to him, if it did he would've been rich a long time ago. He's as quick with his wit as he is with his fists. And, perhaps best of all, he has a kick ass synth-fueled theme song. Unfortunately, I don't think there has ever been a soundtrack released for this film. I'm a huge fan of 60's & 70's Italian cinema and I especially love giallo films (gialli ?). I've never seen a giallo I didn't like. Probably because there's nothing not to like: highly stylized camera work, highly stylized wardrobes, fascinating hairdos (and don'ts), incredible soundtrack music, outrageous criminals with text book psychoses, over-the-top violence, plot twists galore, expository epilogues, mucho sexy ladies, tiny cars I've never seen in the States, the lovable English dubbing ... the list goes on. Well, Syndicate Sadists is really a crime film and not a giallo but it's not much of a stretch. All the crucial elements listed above transcend genres and help define this fine piece of Euro Cinema. If you want to read a nice write-up of this film and all the technical DVD elements that I don't quite understand, check DVD Drive-In. They've done a much better job than I ever could. 
Stumbled across this photo of the Mapledurham Watermill yesterday. Boy that looks familiar I thought, then I realized what I was looking at. I photoshopped in the Sabbath album cover to complete the picture. Click to enlarge. 