The Pit

Ben, please add US thrash metallers Acrophet.

Hi Daniel, Instead of the playlist submissions being by number of tracks, have you considered asking clan members to make submissions by time duration? For example, allot each member fifteen or twenty minutes (or whatever) of playlist time and ask for submissions totalling that duration. Just an idea - I could easily make five tracks last an hour or more!!

A very solid mid-80's crust punk anthem from Birmingham crossover thrashers Sacrilege.

My relationship with "Behind The Realms Of Madness" goes right back to my tape trading days but it's not an album that I return to all that often to be honest. I certainly enjoy it whenever I do but I wouldn't say that it commands return visits out of me. The production is very much in the rough 'n' ready hardcore punk tradition with the drums being very high in the mix & the guitars a bit too far back but this fuzzy DYI approach kinda works for Sacrilege here as it gives the album an authenticity that's quite important to the end result. I really enjoy Tam's unusually aggressive female vocal delivery too as she simultaneously creates a point of difference & gives the music the required surge of energy.

Musically, "Behind The Realms Of Madness" has always been categorized as a thrash metal & crust punk hybrid & that's a very accurate description in my opinion. For that reason it's always seemed strange to me that it's never been referred to as crossover thrash given the intent of that term. Perhaps it's due to the fact that the two styles don't actually cross over all that often. In fact, when you take a close look at the six individual tracks you'll find that three of them fall into thrash territory while the other three sound more like straight-up crust. Given that knowledge, I guess it makes sense for a site like RYM to keep the tags separate so that the release appears in searches on both subgenres but for Metal Academy I'd prefer that it was referred to as crossover thrash so that people can clearly see that it's not your standard thrash record & has a significant hardcore component.

I guess the main reason I don't rate "Behind The Realms Of Madness" as the underground classic that so many of my peers seem to is the generic nature of a lot of the riffs. I mean there's definitely a "thrash riffs for dummies" feel to some of this material & I have to admit that I find the more aggressive hardcore based material to be a touch stronger. I also think that some of Andy Baker's beats are a little bouncy & punky for my liking. Thankfully an authentic underground 80's metal atmosphere is always in effect which does a good job at combatting the flaws but I don't believe that I've ever really been able to see Sacrilege's debut as anything more than a reasonably enjoyable crossover release despite it's significant influence on bands like Bolt Thrower, Unseen Terror & Napalm Death. For me Sacrilege didn't peak until their 1987 follow-up release "Within the Prophecy".

For fans of Hellbastard, Détente & early Onslaught.

3.5/5

P.S. The album cover is pretty fucking bad ass, isn't it?

Managed to get through this over yesterday evening and this morning before work and have picked up a couple of albums to explore more from the list (Death Angel & Overkill).  Killer Be Killed are unknown to me until this list so will check out more of their stuff definitely.  Still not getting the new Sodom album at all and even in piecemeal I find it lacking.  First ever taste of Mr Bungle and it was as bat shit as I thought it would be but enjoyable all the same.

That Pantera track took me back to my youth as did Holy Wars.... Another great list this month.

I'm glad I spent a bit more time with this one, because even though I still don't think Hexecutor is a true sleeper hit, there's definitely some cool stuff in here. I was wanting to write it off after the first two listens since nothing really gripped me and I didn't quite get what it was trying to do, but after letting it settle for a few weeks I got a lot more out of it than I thought. 

Hexecutor are really carving their own path in this record, with the jarring transitions between Thrash and more traditional Heavy Metal proving to be rather unique, at least to me. The vocals are always Thrash/Black Metal centric, leading to some...interesting portions where the Thrash riffs haven't kicked in yet. I found myself really enjoying the riffing and thrashy ideas on tracks like the opening "Buried Alive with her White Silk Dress" and the more Heavy/Speed metal oriented "Eternal Impenitence". It strikes such an interesting balance between two styles that both do and don't work together. 

The record is still extremely clumsy though, with most of the transitions being almost nonexistent and thrown together with no effort. Beyond Any Human Conception of Knowledge feels like an album with a ton of concepts it wants to explore but has no real tact on how to display those concepts in a way that makes sense. I've found I love individual parts of this album, but the complaints of those above me still hold true with how thrown together it all feels. Part of me really enjoys unfocused albums just because you never quite know where the band is going to go next, but Hexecutor doesn't exactly blow my mind with how haphazard they are with riffs coming and going after the same old drum fill for 8 tracks straight. 

Seems like I got more out of this than most, probably thanks to the non-thrash parts having some great riffs and moments, but I agree in that I'm not sure where all the hype for this one came from. 

3.5/5

Daniel, I noticed you haven't rated this yet.

Well that took me back to a much simpler time in my life & I found that I still really dig Merciless' aggressive brand of Swedish death/thrash. "The Awakening" kinda sounds like the more brutal Kreator, Protector & Dark Angel material with some unusually vicious vocals elevating it above your average thrasher into more deathly territory. There's a little bit of early Morbid Angel about the style of the riffs too which can't be a bad thing but I think this album could have done with some shredding solos to take it to the next level. Very solid stuff indeed though so thanks to Sonny for reminding me that I needed to give it a revisit.

4/5

P.S. Ben, you should check this out if you haven't already.

I’m always a bit torn over which the go-to Metal Church album is for. Any of the first 3 could do it. I do really enjoy David Wayne’s performance here, and the mix of material. 

https://open.spotify.com/playlist/4KtS2pAnpHZItNmRY479gK?si=v_497ymQRB2BRhzVme94Ew

Tracklisting:

01. Kreator – “Enemy Of God” (from “Enemy Of God”, 2005)

02. Soulfly – “Babylon” (from “Dark Ages”, 2005)

03. Venom – “Black Metal” (from “Black Metal”, 1982)

04. Exciter – “Violator” (from “Blood Of Tyrants”, 2000)

05. Killer Be Killed – “Dream Gone Bad” (from “Reluctant Hero”, 2020)

06. Sacrifice – “Truth (After The Rain)” (from “Soldiers Of Misfortune”, 1991)

07. Hallows Eve – “Speed Freak” (from “Monument”, 1988) [Submitted by Daniel]

08. Hellripper – “The Hanging Tree” (from “The Affair Of The Poisons”, 2020)

09. Hexecutor – “Ker Ys” (from “Beyond Any Human Conception of Knowledge”, 2020)

10. Ludichrist – “Powertrip” (from “Powertrip”, 1988)

11. Evil Army – “Realm Of Death” (from “Evil Army”, 2006)

12. Slaughter Messiah – “From The Tomb Into The Void” (from “Cursed To The Pyre”, 2020)

13. Heathen – “Dying Season” (from “The Evolution Of Chaos”, 2010)

14. Sodom – “The Harpooneer” (from “Genesis XIX”, 2020)

15. Testament – “Over The Wall” (from “First Strike Still Deadly”, 2001)

16. Warbringer – “Outer Reaches” (from “Weapons Of Tomorrow”, 2020)

17. Machine Head – “Davidian” (from “Burn My Eyes”, 1994)

18. Overkill – “Coma” (from “Horrorscope”, 1991) [Submitted by Daniel]

19. Havok – “Prepare For Attack” (from “Time Is Up”, 2011)

20. Vektor – “Recharging The Void” (from “Terminal Redux”, 2016)

21. Expander – “Megacorp” (from “Neuropunk Boostergang”, 2020)

22. Lamb Of God – “512” (from “VII: Sturm und Drang”, 2015)

23. Viking – “Burning From Within” (from “Do Or Die”, 1988) [Submitted by Daniel]

I've always found Prong's "Force Fed" to be a bit flat but this track represents the band at their worst. It just sounds like a mess, particularly those vocals which don't seem to know what they want to do.

Prong - "Force Fed" (1988)

New York trio Prong's sophomore release saw them returning with a more metal-heavy brand of crossover thrash to their 1987 debut "Primitive Origins" which sat a little further over to the hardcore end of the spectrum. "Force Fed" kicks off in an obviously crossover direction before taking a few detours through more traditional thrash metal territory (see early Voivod & "Reign In Blood"-era Slayer), straight-up New York hardcore & even some slower material that borders on sludge metal. In fact, there are a couple of tracks included that sound remarkably like UK industrial metallers Godflesh only without the electronic component. It's so pronounced that I'd actually be very surprised if this record wasn't an influence on a young Justin Broadrick with the generally inadequate vocal performance of front man Tommy Victor regularly coming across like a drunken version of Justin. And while we're on that topic, Victor's vocal performance often borders on incompetence to tell you the truth & this is one of my main issues with this release.  The other is the production which is very flat & inconsistent & unfortunately these two flaws combine to limit the appeal that "Force Fed" has to offer. There's a plethora of quality riffs scattered across the tracklisting but I don't feel that they manage to overcome Prong's failings & this results in "Force Fed" sounding a touch flatter than the debut which did just enough to keep me interested. Thankfully Southern Records' English CD release of the album includes two strong bonus tracks which give it the extra oomph required to make it an enjoyable listen so I'd recommend you look out for that one if you feel the urge to be "force fed" some early Prong. Why those two tracks weren't included on the album in the first place is anyone's guess, particularly the very strong sludgy eight minute cover version of Chrome's "Third From The Sun" which is very solid indeed.

For fans of 1985-87 period Corrosion Of Conformity, Suicidal Tendencies & the first couple of Voivod records.

3/5

The last couple of days have seen my long-time feelings on "Horrorscope" being well & truly justified. It's an extremely tight, professional & well-executed piece of thrash metal that showcases a band that was right on top of their game. The production is absolutely spot on & the song structures are beautifully constructed. Bobby Ellsworth's grindier vocal delivery is easily his best yet & creates a bad-assed atmosphere that's most noticeable on the slower tracks which have a very well-received dosage of darkness about them. As with most Overkill albums of the period though, their are a couple of tracks that fall more into the traditional heavy metal camp & I definitely find these to be the least appealing, particularly the Sabbathy instrumental track "Frankenstein" which sounds pretty flat in the context of the material around it. I would have omitted that one. But tracks like "Coma", the title track & "Nice Day... For A Funeral" sit amongst the absolute cream of Overkill's career & it's hard to be critical of such a classy effort. I don't believe that Overkill have ever released a genuinely classic record but "Horrorscope" is their best work for mine.

For fans of Exodus, Anthrax & late 80's Metallica.

4/5

My thoughts on some of the tracks:

Hexen – “Gas Chamber” (from “State Of Insurgency”, 2008)

9/10. Ooh, listen to that, a brutal thrash song to start the playlist! Well even though I'm not usually into thrash this brutal, this is still an excellent killer song with blazing blast beats and searing soloing. A nice extreme start!

Lamb Of God – “Ruin” (from “As The Palaces Burn”, 2003)

10/10. This song starts with heavy guitar and bass, then Randy Blythe lets rips one of the best screams ever in metal, lasting 15 seconds! That might be his third-longest scream behind the ones in the next album's "Laid to Rest" and Burn the Priest's "Departure Hymn". Some people think of his raspy growls as scratchy, but it sounds really cool to me. Soon the guitars sound more brutal sounding like in Meshuggah in Drop-D, followed by a more brutal slow ending part. One of the best songs in As the Palaces Burn!

Voivod – “Live For Violence” (from “War & Pain”, 1984)

8/10. For this one, it crawls into one ear, violently bursts out the other, and vice versa, back and forth. The main riff of the song is powerful, along with some parts displaying the band's future experimentation. A great heavy song!

Revocation – “No Funeral” (from “Chaos Of Forms”, 2011)

10/10. From start to finish, this song speeds through your a** and out your mouth with epic vocals in the chorus along the way. If I was in the US at the time that I'm writing my comments on this song, I would be snowboarding to this killer piece. Both the instrumentation and vocals seem to be inspired by Voivod, with the instrumentation also having some influences by both Poison and The Cure, and the vocals having the aggression of Randy Blythe. One of the best songs in their first 3 or 4 albums!

Slayer – “Chemical Warfare” (from “Haunting The Chapel” E.P., 1984)

9/10. Listen, I'm not that devoted to the classic heavier thrash stuff like Slayer (at least not right now). If you were to quiz me on some lesser-known things about Slayer, I would be useless as Gene Hoglan on roadie duty (no offense, Hoglan). This is still a killer song though!

Sadus – “The Wake” (from “Swallowed In Black”, 1990)

10/10. The kind of thrash I like is the technical thrash that sounds influenced from other thrash/death metal bands but with a technical twist. This sounds like when Obituary and Sepultura at that time unite and add some technicality that's better than death. A great underrated tune! Seriously, you read that!? This is the technical thrash I like that's underrated compared to the more popular classic heavier thrash!!

Merciless – “Pure Hate” (from “The Awakening”, 1990)

7/10. Ending this playlist is probably the heaviest thrash song I've ever heard, heavier than that Hexen track! I kinda like it, but it's too much on the aggressive deathrash side of Massacra and Agressor. Death metal mixed with thrash is just not the right style for me unless it's technical.

The new track from Arizona progressive thrash metal legends Vektor.

Wow... Vektor has changed a lot since we last heard of them! First off, they set the tuning to the standard E, as opposed to the slightly higher F tuning in all their previous releases, and that's a bummer because I was kinda hoping for them to pick up some C-tuned 7-string guitars for a heavier yet ethereal sound. Second, the vocals! David DiSanto has been known for his high shrieking, yet the vocals here are mainly more melodic and clean, with a small bit of the shrieks only in the background. I think he lost most of his screaming ability after using it all up on his ex-wife (sorry, I know, poor taste). Anyway, with the E tuning and mostly cleaner vocals, this song sounds closer to the 80s albums of Voivod and Coroner (both bands I enjoy) than the unique style Vektor has been known for. If it's just for this song, would the other song "Dead By Dawn", from their spilt EP with Cryptosis, have this new sound as well or their unique style from before? And if they both have this new sound, is it just one-off for that split EP, or will it affect their upcoming album and become permanent?? Only time will tell.... But for now, I'll say that "Activate" is, in my opinion, the band's third-worst song (behind "Collapse" and "Mountains Above the Sun"), though it's not bad enough to be a sh*tter and it still remains solid.

3.5/5

Review is up and I stood by my original 4 star rating.  Strong debut that shows the huge potential of Chuck, Alex and Eric in particular.  Held back by a lazy mix that makes it hard to hear all the performances.

https://metal.academy/reviews/1117/1501

https://open.spotify.com/playlist/3AbesXjj8jd8FUWFfhWqgE?si=EKU68OsrTZCyM_zFefzBDw

Tracklisting:

01. Kreator – “Blind Faith” (from “Terrible Certainty”, 1987) [Submitted by Daniel]

02. Machine Head – “Halo” (from “The Blackening”, 2007)

03. Helloween – “Victim Of Fate” (from “Helloween” E.P., 1985)

04. Razor – “Deathrace” (from “Executioner’s Song”, 1985) [Submitted by Sonny92]

05. Slaughter – “Incinerator” (from “Surrender Or Die” demo, 1985) [Submitted by Sonny92]

06. Sepultura – “Refuse/Resist” (from “Chaos A.D.”, 1993)

07. Suicidal Tendencies – “You Can’t Bring Me Down” (from “Lights Camera Revolution”, 1990)

08. Anthrax – “A Skeleton In The Closet” (from “Among The Living”, 1987) [Submitted by Daniel]

09. Heathen – “Arrows Of Agony” (from “2005 Demo”, 2005)

10. Sabbat – “Samurai Zombies” (from “Karisma”, 1999)

11. Hellripper – “Spectres Of The Blood Moon Sabbath” (from “The Affair Of The Poisons”, 2020)

12. Coroner – “Read My Scars” (from “No More Color”, 1989)

13. Deceased… – “The Premonition” (from “Supernatural Addiction”, 2000)

14. Onslaught – “A Perfect Day To Die (2020 Version)” (from “Generation Antichrist”, 2020)

15. Testament – “Night Of The Witch” (from “Titans Of Creation”, 2020)

16. Sacrilege B.C. – “Fun With Napalm” (from “Party With God”, 1986) [Submitted by Sonny92]

17. DRAIN – “Army Of One” (from “California Cursed”, 2020)

18. Hirax – “Flesh & Blood” (from “El Rostro de la Muerte”, 2009) [Submitted by MacabreEternal]

19. Mortal Sin – “Hatred” (from “Psychology Of Death”, 2011)

20. Lamb Of God – “New Colossal Hate” (from “Lamb Of God”, 2020)

21. S.O.D. – “Kill Yourself” (from “Speak English Or Die”, 1985) [Submitted by MacabreEternal]

22. Epidemic – “Three Witches” (from “Decameron”, 1992)

23. Sodom – “Nuclear Winter” (from “Persecution Mania”, 1987) [Submitted by Daniel]

24. Mr. Bungle – “Raping Your Mind” (from “The Raging Wrath Of The Easter Bunny Demo”, 2020)

25. Seprevation – “In Torment They Burn” (from “Consumed”, 2014)

26. Nekromantheon – “Cast Down to the Void” (from “Rise, Vulcan Spectre”, 2012) [Submitted by MacabreEternal]

Since it's been almost 6 months and no further activity has been made in this thread, I'm gonna end it here and declare the winner of part 1, which is... Celtic Frost's To Mega Therion, two to one!! So for part 2, let's take Celtic Frost further into the tournament and pair it up with a different album from a subgenre I'm more familiar with. That's right, we're gonna do unlisted thrash metal subgenres for this round! However, I'm not gonna start part 2 just yet because (spoilers) the other release I have in mind is a Voivod album and I'm waiting for the results of a new different DIS vs DAT thread involving Voivod and another band. For more info and to vote in that thread, it's in this link: https://metal.academy/forum/23/thread/591

So I thought I'd give the lists section a test run by creating my "Top Ten Teutonic Thrash Release of 1987" list. Here's the link:

https://metal.academy/lists/single/93

01. Exumer - "Rising From The Sea"

02. Sodom - "Persecution Mania"

03. Destruction - "Release From Agony"

04. Violent Force - "Malevolent Assault Of Tomorrow"

05. Sodom - "Expurse Of Sodomy" E.P.

06. Kreator - "Terrible Certainty"

07. Protector - "Misanthropy" E.P.

08. Holy Moses - "Finished With The Dogs"

09. Destruction - "Mad Butcher" E.P.

10. Tankard - "Chemical Invasion"

Feel free to share your thoughts or your own personal lists.

I have to admit that I quite enjoyed "Weapons Of Tomorrow". It sees the band trying quite hard to keep enough variety in play so as not to sound completely generic & this results in a good mix of brutality & melody. There's a whole tonne of influences going on here. From the classic thrash end of the spectrum there's definitely a fair amount of Exodus worship going on & the slower, darker passages seem to draw influence from "Seasons In The Abyss"-era Slayer at times but there's also a consistent melodeath feel going on that reminds me of At The Gates or even Kreator's last couple of albums which often gave a passing glance to the Swedes in a similar way. Warbringer also have a shot at fully-fledged black metal & your classic old-school Swedish death metal sound at various points across the tracklisting so it's clear that they have a rounded taste in extreme metal. Just check out the clear ode to Bathory at the four & a half minute mark in "Heart of Darkness" for example.

As Vinny mentioned, John Kevill's nasty vocal delivery is definitely similar to Demolition Hammer's Steve Reynolds (& At The Gates' Tomas Lindberg to an extent) which can't be a bad thing & he gives it absolutely everything he's got at all times. The lead guitar work is sensational & is a real highlight of the album in my opinion. The production is excellent & compliments the natural energy of the song-writing. I can't say I agree with saxy's statement about the bass guitar being hard to pick up. I can hear it pretty comfortably throughout so maybe it's to do with our listening devices of choice. There are a couple of tracks that don't do much for me though (see chuggy thrasher "The Black Hand Reaches Out" & the epic power metal influenced "Glorious End") & these lapses generally line up with the moments that drummer Carlos Cruz goes for bouncier & more accessible beats over mid-paced chuggy riffs. I'd much prefer to be flayed by light-speed tremolo riffage & a machine gun of double kick personally (see album highlight "Unraveling" for example) but this is not really a flaw but a matter of personal taste.

Overall I find "Weapons Of Tomorrow" to be an enjoyable if inessential thrash metal release that eclipses most of the other new school thrash exponents out there pretty comfortably through pure class. It's beautifully executed & hints at some real potential but doesn't quite deliver as consistently as our 80's faves.

3.5/5

You haven't heard a lot of tech-thrash, SilentScream? Well I have some recommendations for you to start with (thrash mixed with progressive also included in my list):

5. Revocation - Existence is Futile (2009)

4. Vektor - Black Future (2009)

3. Nevermore - This Godless Endeavor (2005)

2. Sadus - A Vision of Misery (1992)

1. Annihilator - Alice in Hell (1989)

Those albums can help you start on your tech-thrash journey with some of the greatest bands of the subgenre. The list can also be my current top 5 list with the only difference being Coroner's Mental Vortex tied with that Annihilator album for #1. Enjoy this tech-pack!

Y'know, I think now that we can make our own public lists, these "lists" kind of threads are no longer totally necessary when we can just make our own lists to share and inspire other members to make similar lists. So I say we focus on doing our top 5 or 10 (or any number) releases of a year, clan, or genre in the public lists from now on. I'm gonna head out of this thread and take my top 5 tech-thrash releases with me. See ya on the "list" side! https://metal.academy/lists/single/82

Death Angel - "The Ultra-Violence" (1987)

Can someone please fill me in on what is supposedly so special about the debut album from this family-owned Bay Area thrash outfit? I first encountered it three decades ago now & are still no closer to understanding the reason for the high regard it seems to be held in by almost every thrasher out there (with the possible exception of Ben who has always agreed with me). Don't get me wrong. It's a more than handy thrash record & was quite the achievement for such a young group of dudes but it doesn't really come close to competing with the big boys of the genre in my opinion. The triple play of "Kill As One", the title track & "Mistress Of Pain" is really great but it's book-ended by some material that doesn't exactly stand out from the crowd with a couple of tracks not really cutting the mustard for me personally (see the awful vocal performance on "Voracious Souls" or the light-weight & generic riffage of "Final Death"). I don't think Death Angel have ever released anything I'd regard as being close to a classic but their best work was yet to come in my opinion. A lot of that has to do with the dodgy vocal performance here as front man Mark Osegueda hadn't learned to sing in key just yet. A decent if overrated release for fans of Testament, Metallica & Exodus.

3.5/5

Glad you liked your 15th birthday present Ben. I put a lot of thought into it.

Weirdly, despite being a massive fan of both thrash and punk, I've never really listened to that much crossover thrash. I guess if I want thrash I listen to thrash and if I want punk then I listen to punk. I do like Agnostic Front's punk material though, so maybe I'll give their album a listen. The problem I've had with crossover is that it always sounds less aggressive than my punk yardstick band, the mighty Discharge, so what's the point? By the way, Suicidal Tendencies hardcore debut destroys their thrashier albums in my opinion. Still I'm gonna spin some of your top 8 and see where we go!

https://open.spotify.com/playlist/1Brux0Q9K58QKzRwAlazwT?si=DLZ_nWB-T6uAKzR6FyaGOg

Tracklisting:

01. Sacrifice – “Terror Strikes” (from “Forward To Termination”, 1987) [Submitted by Daniel]

02. Sepultura – “Roots Bloody Roots” (from “Roots”, 1996)

03. Iron Angel – “Sinner” (from “Hellish Crossfire”, 1985) [Submitted by Ben]

04. White Zombie – “Thunder Kiss ‘65” (from “La Sexorcisto: Devil Music Vol. 1” (1992)

05. KAT – “Łza dla cieniów minionych” (from “Bastard”, 1991)

06. Megadeth – “Liar” (from “So Far, So Good… So What!”, 1988) [Submitted by Sonny92]

07. Cro-Mags – “No One’s Victim” (from “In The Beginning”, 2020)

08. Prong – “Revenge… Best Served Cold” (from “Carved Into Stone”, 2012)

09. Anacrusis – “Present Tense” (from “Hindsight: Suffering Hour & Reason Revisited” (2010)

10. The Exploited – “Beat The Bastards” (from “Beat The Bastards”, 1996)

11. Agent Steel – “The Day At Guyana” (from “Unstoppable Force”, 1987)

12. Ghoul – “Word Is Law” (from “Dungeon Bastards”, 2016) [Submitted by MacabreEternal]

13. Power Trip – “Executioner’s Tax (Swing Of The Axe)” (from “Nightmare Logic”, 2017) [Submitted by MacabreEternal]

14. Heathen – “A Fine Red Mist” (from “Empire Of The Blind”, 2020)

15. Testament – “Disciples Of The Watch” (from “The New Order”, 1988) [Submitted by Ben]

16. Tankard – “Die With A Beer In Your Hand” (from “Beast Of Bourbon”, 2004)

17. Destruction – “Sign Of Fear” (from “Release From Agony”, 1987) [Submitted by Daniel]

18. Onslaught – “Angels Of Death” (from “Power From Hell”, 1985) [Submitted by Sonny92]

19. Grip Inc. – “Cursed (Of The Cloth)” (from “Incorporated”, 2004)

20. Ratos de Porão – “Aids, Pop, Repression” (from “Brasil”, 1989)

21. Revocation – “The Grip Tightens” (from “Teratogenesis” E.P., 2012)

22. Holy Terror – “Tomorrow’s End” (from “Terror & Submission”, 1987) [Submitted by Daniel]

23. Lååz Rockit – “Too Far Gone” (from “Nothing$ $acred”, 1991)

24. Razor – “Hypertension” (from “Violent Retribution”, 1988) [Submitted by Sonny92]

25. Municipal Waste – “Headbanger Face Rip” (from “The Art Of Partying”, 2007) [Submitted by MacabreEternal]

26. Violator – “Destined To Die” (from “Chemical Assault”, 2006)

27. Sadus – “Certain Death” (from “Illusions”, 1988) [Submitted by Ben]

28. Deceased… - “The Kept” (from “As The Weird Travel On”, 2005)

My thoughts on some of the tracks (including my suggested songs):

Nevermore – “This Godless Endeavor” (from “This Godless Endeavor”, 2005)

9/10. Well that's interesting, adding a climatic epic right in the middle of the first half of the playlist. Either way, it's an amazing progressive thrash epic, starting with an acoustic intro, before switching to irresistible heaviness, and it has the best sweeping passage of the album right before the climactic ending.

Coroner – “Divine Step” (from “Mental Vortex”, 1991)

10/10. Oh yeah, a song I initially thought was a stinker for myself, but I now recognize as the enormous starter progressive/thrash metalheads really love. It frantically yet decently punches through the discordant verses and riffs, powerful enough to blow my mind harder than a head-shot through the temple. I also enjoy the mellow bridge that contrasts against the typical heaviness and metallic guitar strength. What I thought was too out of place is now in place again!

Annihilator – “Armed To The Teeth” (from “Ballistic, Sadistic”, 2020)

10/10. Holy h*ll, this is incredible!! This is basically ballistic tech-ish thrash similar to early Coroner alongside main founder Jeff Waters channeling his inner James Hetfield (both the vocals and guitars)! Absolutely KILLER!!!!

Lamb Of God – “Laid To Rest” (from “Ashes Of the Wake”, 2004)

11/10 (not exaggerated). My absolute favorite song from a band in The Pit, though Lamb of God is more of a groove/thrash metal band unlike the 3 progressive/thrash metal bands I've commented on. It's an awesome standout with a meaner vibe than the other songs I've mentioned. The spoken narration during the intro is a nice unique addition. The riff in the bridge as Blythe yells "SEE WHO GIVES A F***!!" is fantastic. And of course, we can't forget about the infamous long "FAILURE!!!" scream. Excellent song!

Those songs are really great, thanks Ben and Daniel! However, I won't immediately start listening to the rest of Annihilator's discography. I'm still new to thrash metal going back to the late 80s (other than early Neurosis which is more on the hardcore side), and about a week or two from now, I plan on getting a couple other band discographies, including Coroner, which would be a good starting point for me before I get to the further Annihilator side of the tech-thrash bridge that I plan on crossing a couple weeks after. I'm taking my slow time... I'm heading toward thrash metal's golden age without my taste going too deep into the old!

Coroner - "R.I.P." (1987)

The 1987 debut album from Swiss technical thrash metal outfit Coroner & I go wwwwaaaayyyyy back but we haven't always had an entirely amicable relationship in all honesty. I've often struggled with the blatant technicality of the riffs which regularly sound more like practice exercises than actual art & the neoclassical influence in the lead work has always seemed to me to be at odds with the ideals of the European thrash sound, particularly on the very popular instrumental piece "Nosferatu" which is still a bit too much for me personally. But time has a habit of doing funny things to old bastards like me & in this case it seems to have healed whatever wounds I may have sustained in the past as I now find myself enjoying "R.I.P." a little more than I ever have before. Don't get me wrong, I still think it's the weakest of Coroner's albums & I'm not sure there's a genuine classic amongst the tracklisting but the energy & urgency in the band's sound, the raspy vocal approach & astounding bass work of front man Ron Royce & the combined competence, vision & ambition shown by this trio of musicians all makes for a pretty rewarding listen these days, despite the fact that I can't ever quite forget about my previous qualms. For fans of Vektor, Voivod & Watchtower.

3.5/5

My review is up and largely reflects the opinion of the majority.  Clumsy drumming, hindered guitar sound and a poor production and mix job.  Ellesworth carries the record (and actually reminds me off Biff Byford at one point) with Verni being the other consistent performer.

3/5