Saint Vitus formed in 1978 as Tyrant, just as their obvious key inspiration, Black Sabbath, were dissolving post-Never Say Die!. By 1981 they’d adopted their proper name. This 1984 debut features guitarist Dave Chandler, bassist Mark Adams, drummer Armando Acosta, and vocalist Scott Reagers, whose theatrical yowling is closer to Blue Öyster Cult than Ozzy. And the band were more than mere Sabbath clones; Chandler is a truly unique guitarist, his “solos” usually consist of sudden outbursts of noise. The album begins with a wash of feedback and distortion before the first riff kicks in, and the song itself (yes, they achieve the metal trifecta of opening the album Saint Vitus with the song “Saint Vitus”) gallops along at a hardcore punk tempo for much of its running time. But it’s on the three sludgy epics, “Zombie Hunger,” “The Psychopath,” and “Burial At Sea,” that make up the bulk of this five-track, 36-minute album where they really come into their own. The shortest of these tracks is 7:21, the longest 9:26, and they roll along like a boulder barely gathering momentum. What Southern California audiences weaned on hardcore must have made of this is anybody’s guess.