The Thrash Metal Thread

Mustaine got kicked out of Metallica because of his drinking. (well, more his attitude when drunk, because everyone was drunk in Metallica...they even had a documentary covering it IIRC) It now occurs to me that the only band of the big four to not be raging alcoholics at one point is Slayer, unless there's some bit of gossip I missed...

Anyway, seeing as I recently relistened to Anthrax myself, I'd say they're the kind of band that you either think work or not. They lack the technicality of even Metallica, the aggression of a Slayer or Kreator, yet they're not quite pure thrash nor are they mixed [with another genre] well. They're just sort of vaguely thrash, just sort of there. Hence why they're frequently the punching bag of the big four.

OK, then I'll rephrase it: Anthrax, the band that wishes they were as drunk as Metallica.

But yeah, Anthrax might be good, but they're kinda posers just capitalizing on the cooler side of the California rock scene without fully grasping what made thrash cool.

I was fortunate enough to catch Anthrax on the Among the Living UK tour in a small hall in the Midlands and it was one of the best metal shows I have ever been to. Say what you like about them musically, but those guys could really work a crowd.

I actually had a chance to buy a ticket to an Anthrax concert in my country, but it never happened. Here's the full story: https://metal.academy/forum/13/thread/826#topic_7164

Anthrax - "Persistence of Time" (1990)

My revisit to New York thrash metal legends Anthrax’s 1988 fourth album “State of Euphoria” a couple of weeks ago left me feeling a little surprised to be honest. That album was my entry point with Anthrax back in 1989 & has subsequently seen me maintaining some fairly significant feelings of nostalgia over the years but this revisit saw reality finally setting in as I discovered that “State of Euphoria” is not everything I’d convinced myself it was. 1985’s “Spreading The Disease” (my personal favourite) & 1987’s “Among The Living” were both undeniable classics but the follow-up saw Anthrax rushing things a bit with the result being that it sounds a little undercooked in comparison. The song-writing & hooks aren’t as strong as we have a right to expect from such an esteemed member of the Big Four with the album relying too heavily on singalong choruses to win their fanbase over. This mission was only partially successful & it resulted in “State of Euphoria” coming across as a decent but inessential inclusion in Anthrax’s discography. This discovery certainly caught me off guard & left me wondering what else I may have been overstating. For that reason, I decided to follow-up with a similar revisit to Anthrax’s 1990 fifth full-length “Persistence of Time”, a release that I purchased on CD on the day of release & played to death over the next year or so.

“State of Euphoria” had seen Anthrax starting to hint at a more serious approach to their music with the lyrics to several tracks taking a much more hard-hitting thematic direction than we’d seen from the band in years gone by. The lack of substance & attention to detail in some of the song-writing & chorus hooks did very little to take advantage of it though which was part of the reason that the album has proven to be less popular than it’s more highly regarded older siblings. “Persistence of Time” sees Anthrax rectifying that failing with a darker & more mature sounding record than we’d heard from the band to the time. The subject matter is confronting & in your face while the song-writing is more developed & less basic. In fact, there’s a level of consistency to “Persistence of Time” that greatly exceeds that of its predecessor with only the very popular Joe Jackson cover version “Got The Time” failing to get me fully engaged. The rest of the tracklisting is rock-solid though &, unlike “State of Euphoria”, we actually get a few genuine Anthrax classics here this time (see “Time”, “Belly Of The Beast”, “One Man Stands” &, to a slightly lesser extent, “Keep It In The Family”).

Perhaps one the reasons that “Persistence of Time” isn’t as highly praised as Anthrax’s mid-80’s classics is the tempo as the band don’t often hit top speed, instead opting for chunky mid-paced chuggers quite often. In saying that though, there’s no hint at moving away from thrash just yet as Scott Ian’s devastating rhythm guitar performance never veers far away from the thrash metal model. Ian’s thick guitar tone doesn’t do him any harm either & shows him to be one of the premier exponents of his craft so I’d have to suggest that these two elements make the album noticeably more appealing than it might otherwise have been. The other major improvement is in the song-writing as it’s clear that Joey Belladonna & co. had worked long & hard on making sure that every transition & drum roll were perfectly placed & executed. Drummer Charlie Benante & lead guitarist Dan Spitz are both in awesome form on this record too which makes it really hard for anyone to question Anthrax’s Big Four credentials in my opinion.

If you only like Anthrax for their silly nature & fast, thrashy moshpit numbers then “Persistence of Time” is possibly not the album for you. If you’re looking for something a little less obvious & with a touch more depth then it might just be in your ball park though. Has nostalgia seen me overrating this record? I actually don’t think so. I think I just have a penchant for a darker & less obvious style of thrash than Anthrax have pushed at times & can appreciate all of the hard work they’ve put into the record. Fans of Overkill, Nuclear Assault & Metallica should not hesitate to check it out.

4.5/5

I have found PoT to be an album that has grown on me more and more over the years. It is less immediate than it's predecessors and rewards more patience. I still rate Spreading the Disease and Among the Living higher, but Persistence is still a high quality thrash release and proves that when Anthrax stripped away some of the irreverence from their schtick that they were deserving of their place in the top tier of the thrash metal hierarchy.

I agree with all of that Sonny. "Spreading The Disease" is still my favourite Anthrax album followed by "Among The Living" but "Persistence of Time" isn't all that far away for me these days to be honest.

Celtic Frost - To Mega Therion (1985)

I don't understand how Warrior, having been good friends with the late great H.R. Giger, somehow managed to get his worst painting as the interior and second worst as the exterior. He'd have been better off with that weird cat drawing. It's just so goofy, as Giger's artwork doesn't work here outside of pure shock value, of which there is none in 2023. It's like saying you're pro-Napoleon, nobody cares.
To Mega Therion is a very weird album, unique in sound and spirit. For instance, The Usurper is on a surface level just a fairly typical proto-black metal song. Yet, beyond that surface it's structured like a new wave song, has a triumphant feeling that black metal rarely captures. Yet, despite nominally being thrash, it feels unlike any real thrash song it's hard to believe it's part of the genre.
Now of course there are the straightforward bits. That aggressive, even in the slow bits, guitar creating the kind of atmosphere that would be every black metallers dream. Despite an arguable lack of talent, Smoothly gliding to where it needs to be, only stopping when a stop is absolutely needed. Even solos that should rightly be absolutely terrible, work. Beyond the North Winds is basically the bare minimum of what a solo is, yet works incredibly in the context of the song.
Vocalist Tom G. Warrior is also something that shouldn't work, because he has a voice that brings to mind Sylvester Stallone; a voice that could never be confused for something harmonious and lovely. The mystical lyrics that are pretty interesting just come out as gibberish, sometimes even falestto gibberish. Still, as that comparison implies, there's a charm to him, and his little grunts he does. Something so distinct that it only works for him, and everyone else using it is so obviously imitating him as to be hard to take seriously.
It's mind-boggling that an album that seems to be so completely amateurish and devoid of any qualities that should be positive is as good as it is. Yet, I and many others think of this very fondly, and sometimes it even transcends it's niche as one of the first black metal albums.

5/5

You describe it like I describe Never Mind the Bollacks Here's the Sex Pistols, except that album isn't as surreal.

KAT - "Oddech wymarłych światów" (1988)

I first became aware of Poland’s premier thrash metal export KAT in the very early 1990’s through the tape trading scene. I’d been trading with a European metal fanatic who was really big on them & he thought I might enjoy some of their thrashier material so he sent me over a few tapes that included their most highly regarded release in 1988’s classic third album “Oddech wymarłych światów”. I ended up really enjoying all of the releases he’d sent me so I’d follow KAT’s subsequent releases for the remainder of my tape trading days & would even check out one of their post-reunion albums upon my return to metal in 2009 but somehow KAT have drifted off my radar in recent times. I’m not familiar with a good half of their back catalogue & have never taken the time to revisit any of the releases I enjoyed as a youngster for the purpose of rating & review until now but I thought I might start with KAT’s pièce de résistance.

I’ve never experienced the first couple of KAT albums from when they reportedly championed more of a Venom-style heavy/speed metal sound but they were already a fairly classy & professional outfit by 1988 & that’s quite evident in the way they go about things on “Oddech wymarłych światów”. The production is perfectly suited to underground thrash with all of the instruments being presented clearly but never at the expense of the rawness that made European thrash so appealing during the 1980’s. The compositions are quite sophisticated too & one gets the feeling that KAT were just as influenced by the Americans as they were the Germans.

Instrumentally we find KAT taking a predominantly thrash-fronted approach although you can easily detect the band’s more traditional heavy metal roots at times, particularly on songs like the chuggy “Śpisz jak kamień” or the more commercially accessible power ballad “Głos z ciemności”. The highlights of the album definitely come when KAT are at their more intense & thrashy though with songs like opener “Porwany obłędem” (my personal favourite), “Dziewczyna w cierniowej koronie” & “Mag – Sex” all being very solid examples of the late 80’s European thrash metal sound. The thrashier works of fellow Poles Turbo are a pretty good guide for what to expect with Turbo having taken a very similar path of transition from their early heavy metal/rock works to high energy thrashers over their first few albums too. Greece’s Flames are another band that springs to mind while I’m consistently reminded of San Francisco Bay Area legends Exodus in both the vocals & instrumentation. There’s certainly a gruff European edge to Roman Kostrzewski’s vocal delivery that sits somewhere between the raspy squeals of Destruction’s Schmier & the psychotic outbursts of Exodus’ Paul Baloff while the regular use of clean guitars & melodic lead work is drawn from Americans bands like Metallica & is generally executed with great aplomb too just quietly.

You can see that all of the key elements are there for a high-quality thrash outing so why the middling score then? Well, there’s a couple of reasons for that. The first is the noticeable lack of genuine highlight tracks with none of the seven songs included sitting alongside the top tier artists in the genre. There are admittedly no weak tracks here either but the song-writing is often brought back into second or third tier territory by the inclusion of a flat riff or chorus. The music has a nice, raw feel to it but there’s probably not the consistency of elite thrash riffage required for my higher scores here. There’s no doubt that I’ve enjoyed my revisit to “Oddech wymarłych światów” but I did think I might have scored it just a touch higher if I’m being honest.

3.5/5

Flotsam & Jetsam - "No Place For Disgrace" (1988)

I still remember my first encounter with Arizona thrash metallers Flotsam & Jetsam very fondly. As an early teenager I would obsessively tune into late-night underground metal radio programs, often recording them for repeat listens during the next week. I’d imagine that it would have been some time in 1989 when I first heard “Hard On You” blasting out of my headphones during one of those sessions & I recall it making an immediate impact on me. The combination of American thrash metal instrumentation with higher register US power metal vocal hooks offered plenty of appeal to a youngster that was still fresh from his transition from your more classic heavy metal sound & I soon found myself investigating Flotsam & Jetsam’s first two albums, both of which gave me a lot of enjoyment. The following year I’d purchase the band’s brand new third album “When The Storm Comes Down” on cassette &, despite it seeming like a clear step down from the previous two full-lengths, I’d convince myself that I liked it too & would commit to investigating the vast majority of Flotsam & Jetsam’s subsequent works but, if I’m being honest, I don’t think I’ve ever found anything to rival those first couple of late 1980’s releases. The real question with this week’s revisit to 1988’s “No Place For Disgrace” is whether it’s really as good as I remember it being though. I revisited 1986’s “Doomsday For The Deceiver” album in more recent times & it’s lost none of its lustre. Let’s see how Flotsam & Jetsam’s second & final essential release has stood up in comparison then, shall we?

One thing that becomes apparent very early on in proceedings is that Flotsam & Jetsam were a class act. “No Place For Disgrace” is a beautifully produced & executed thrash album from a collection of very talented metal musicians. There’d been just the one lineup change since “Doomsday For The Deceiver” with bassist Jason Newsted notoriously having been recruited by Metallica to replace the legendary Cliff Burton & this had opened up a position for future Prong, Killing Joke & Swans bassist Troy Gregory to join the fold. Troy was clearly very capable & slots straight into the band seamlessly. In fact, his combination with Kelly David-Smith is one of the key ingredients in Flotsam & Jetsam’s precision thrash assault. The twin guitar attack of Edward Carlson & Michael Gilbert is equally as impressive with the flashy solos & super-tight riffage being a real highlight but it’s arguably front man Eric A.K. that’s the main talking point when people discuss Flotsam & Jetsam as his delivery is quite operatic & far more melodic than you’d usually expect from a thrash metal singer. In fact, he reminds me a lot of Queensryche legend Geoff Tate at times which is really saying something. When Flotsam & Jetsam hit their full stride it’s when Eric soars into the better chorus hooks or throws in some additional spite & aggression during the verses so it's fair to say that he contributes to Flotsam & Jetsam creating a slightly different sound to your average American thrasher but you’ll also find traces of US power metal in the instrumentation, particularly during the slower tempo track “Escape From Within” or the lead guitar motifs during the opening title track.

“No Place For Disgrace” is a reasonably consistent record which is perhaps not surprising given the undeniable talents of the various contributors. Instrumental closer “The Jones” is the only genuinely weak track & was actually a pretty poor way to finish up the album in my opinion. In fact, I may well have scored the album a half star higher if not for that unfortunate inclusion. The rest of the tracklisting all offers me some level of appeal, even the strange addition of a cover version of Elton John’s “Saturday Night’s Alright For Fighting” which the band used to play as a part of their early live sets. The stronger moments definitely line up with Flotsam & Jetsam’s darker & more fully realised material though with the title track, “Escape From Within” & “I Live You Die” all seeing the band flexing their muscles. I’m not sure how much nostalgia plays into this but “Hard On You” is still my pick of the bunch though as I can’t seem to get that chorus out of my head for days after hearing it. The other half of the tracklisting is all reasonably enjoyable but I can’t say that it’s of a high enough quality to see me placing “No Place For Disgrace” in the "essential listening" category. It's more pleasant than it is engaging which makes the album as a whole feel kinda third tier when placed alongside the heavy-weights of the thrash metal movement.

Flotsam & Jetsam’s sophomore album certainly has its moments & it’s hard to be too harsh on such a professional metal act. It does seem to be a step down from the band’s most well-known release in their “Doomsday For The Deceiver” debut these days though. Perhaps if they’d opted to cull the final track I might not feel that way but the reality is that I do which has surprised me a bit given that I was expecting to dish out a strong four-star rating for this record based on my childhood memories of it. All qualms aside though, I’d suggest that there’s at least a few enjoyable listens on offer here for fans of bands like Artillery, Overkill & Heathen.

3.5/5

Sacred Reich - "Surf Nicaragua" E.P. (1988)

Phoenix-based thrash metal four-piece Sacred Reich is a band that holds a fair amount of nostalgic value for me these days if I’m being honest. Ben & I discovered them together after purchasing Sacred Reich's 1990 “The American Way” sophomore album on cassette shortly after release & finding it to be an absolute riff-fest. I’d work my way back through their first couple of records via the tape trading scene shortly afterwards & found both to offer a similar level of enjoyment but Sacred Reich’s time in the sun would be fleeting with my taste moving into ever more extreme territories through the early-90's & their bubble well & truly bursting thanks to a couple of pretty ordinary albums during the middle of that decade. I returned to their 1987 debut album “Ignorance” a year or two back though & was pleased to find that it had well & truly maintained its appeal & that experience wet my appetite for some further revision, especially given that Sacred Reich’s 1988 “Surf Nicaragua” E.P. seems to be held up on some sort of pedestal these days which surprises me given that I’d always regarded it as the least significant of Sacred Reich’s three essential releases. It's fair to say that I’ve been more than a little intrigued by this phenomenon & have subsequently been planning to investigate just what it is that gives it such a widespread appeal for some time now.

“Surf Nicaragua” is pretty much the epitome of the “E.P.” as it brings together one novelty track (i.e. one that you probably wouldn’t want on your serious thrash album), one brand new song, a cover version & a fresh recording of a track from the band's early days. The CD version (which is what I’ve always been associated with & will be reviewing here) also includes a couple of live cuts taken from Sacred Reich's debut album. Sounds like the classic E.P. now, doesn’t it? Well, it is but very few of these sort of releases are as successful at such an undertaking. "Surf Nicaragua" is produced by Metal Blade Records’ house engineer Bill Metoyer, a man that’s been involved with any number of noteworthy metal releases over the years, having produced highly praised records such as Trouble’s “Psalm 9" & “The Skull”, Flotsam & Jetsam’s “No Place For Disgrace” & Helstar’s “A Distant Thunder” & “Nosferatu” as well as having engineered some of the greatest metal releases of all time. The result is a significant step up from the Brian Slagel-produced “Ignorance” which suffered a little from production issues & this gave “Surf Nicaragua” a nice platform to work off. Sacred Reich certainly sound like a highly professional, well-oiled machine here too it has to be said with the instrumentalists all working together as a tightly cohesive unit that had paid their dues & were ready to take the next step in their careers after the obligatory fast & raw debut album.

I’m not sure of the timing around the two releases but I’d be very surprised if “Surf Nicaragua” wasn’t linked to M.O.D.’s “Surfin’ M.O.D.” E.P. in some way as it would seem to me to be too coincidental to have two surf-inspired American thrash releases seeing the light of day in the same year. Sacred Reich make a much better fist of their effort though as the title track is actually a pretty decent crossover thrash tune. Yes, it does include some silly references to old surf rock tunes but they only make up a small portion of what is otherwise a pretty enjoyable (if fairly innocuous) opening to the record. Things pick up in a major way from there though with brand new song “One Nation” being some of Sacred Reich’s best work. It starts off in pretty solid fashion before hitting on a fantastic chug riff midway through the song & then milking it for all it’s worth. There are some brilliant references to late 80’s Slayer in there & the guitar solos & the way the rhythm section accentuates the riffs are nothing short of top notch. While the cover version of Black Sabbath’s classic “War Pigs” may not touch the original or the amazing Faith No More version from the following year, I can’t deny that it’s still a very strong inclusion. It probably helps that it’s my favourite Sabbath track & an all-timer for me for heavy metal overall but it’s very well done nonetheless. Where it’s lacking in comparison to the other two major versions is in Phil Rind’s vocal limitations, the fact that it’s slightly sped up & a little looseness in the performances through the middle of the song. The rehashed “Draining You of Life” is a pretty decent speed metal-inspired thrasher which is a little guilty of “Show No Mercy”-era Slayer plagiarism given that the main riff seems to have been borrowed from “Black Magic” but I can let that go in the interest of having a good ol' drunken mosh. The two live cuts are both high-quality too (particularly a very solid rendition of “Death Squad”) so there’s not a weak moment to be found here.

You know what? I think I can now see why “Surf Nicaragua” is held in such high regard because, despite it not ever really trying to flow like a proper album, there’s some damn fine thrash metal included here which has made for a highly energetic partner to my afternoon walk with my newborn. I wouldn’t suggest that it’s a better record than “Ignorance” or “The American Way” but I’d be very surprised if fans of high-quality thrash metal acts like Xentrix, Vio-lence or Evildead don’t get plenty out of it. Hell, I’d even go so far as to say that it holds up really well as a thrash release in its own right so I highly recommend that our The Pit clan members check it out with an open mind.

4/5

Rigor Mortis - "Rigor Mortis" (1988)

Dallas four-piece Rigor Mortis are a classic example of a band that really took advantage of the tape trading scene of the late 1980’s & early 1990’s. They’re raw, aggressive & possess the sort of underground aesthetic that was always going to appeal to an extreme metal aficionado like myself at the time. I became aware of them through exactly that scene a few years after the release of this debut album & recall quite liking it too but “Rigor Mortis” wouldn’t be a record that I’d find myself returning to all that often for one reason or another, despite my having checked out all of the band’s subsequent releases at some point. I can usually judge the magnitude of the impact a band might have had on me as a youngster by using my younger brother Ben as a point of reference. Did I pass “Rigor Mortis” on to Ben as an elite release for him to check out or did it sit in the back of one of my huge boxes of cassettes gathering dust? In this case it sat in the box so I’ve been a little surprised to see the sizeable cult following the album seems to have gained over the many years since. With that in mind, it’s probably time for a revisit to see if I’ve misjudged this record.

The first box that “Rigor Mortis” ticks for any underground thrasher worth their salt can be found in its raw, slightly cold production job which comes courtesy of Skinny Puppy’s Dave Ogilvie who had previously been responsible for producing some of his band’s more highly regarded works such as 1984’s “Remission” & 1988’s “Vivisect VI”. There’s not much gloss about the overall tone & atmosphere which suits Rigor Mortis’ intent quite well. You won’t struggle to make out the individual components though so it’s a nicely balanced portrait of Rigor Mortis’ sound at the same time. This is probably helped by the fact that they haven’t added a second rhythm guitar track underneath future Ministry/1000 Homo DJ’s/Lard/Revolting Cocks axeman Mike Scaccia’s rapid-fire solos which gives the album some much needed space & a distinctly live feel. Mike is well capable of holding his own without them though it has to be said. The rhythm section of bassist Casey Orr (Ministry/Gwar) & drummer Harden Harrison do a reasonable job but it’s Scaccia’s ridiculously fast right-hand endurance that’s the clear focal point & drawcard for the Rigor Mortis’ sound. His solos are utterly shred-tastic & must have left a few budding late 80’s shredders with their heads in their hands while his light-speed thrash riffs give a very clear indication as to why Ministry mastermind Al Jourgensen would recruit him to reproduce the technique on his more intense material. Just check out “Shroud of Gloom” & tell me that you can’t hear the main riff from Ministry’s 1992 industrial thrasher “TV II” for example.

Front man Bruce Corbitt guides Rigor Mortis through the 40-minute, ten-track run time with a muscular, masculine tone that’s well suited to aggressive thrash metal. The references to death metal you’ll sometimes read online are a little misguided although it’s not hard to pickup the influence of Possessed & particularly early Death in some of the riffs on tracks like “Condemned To Hell”. Slayer were clearly the most significant point of inspiration for Rigor Mortis (both their early “Show No Mercy” debut album & their more extreme mid-80’s classics) in a thrash-at-all-costs assault on the senses that doesn’t bring anything terribly new to the table but is unanimously successful in its attempt to capture the diehard metal audience. Speed metal tune “Die In Pain” stands out a bit in the tracklisting given that it would seem to be a tribute to Venom’s faster material if my ears are not mistaken.

“Rigor Mortis” is very consistent in the quality of its song-writing & performances & I’d have to suggest that I get enjoyment from all of the ten tracks included. It’s just lacking those couple of knockout punches that take a decent thrash metal record & make it into an essential one. There are no obvious highlight tracks on offer so even though fans of bands like Deceased…, Gammacide & Evildead will likely find plenty to interest them, I’m not sure that “Rigor Mortis” will end up on too many top ten lists.

3.5/5

Num Skull - "Ritually Abused" (1988)

Illinois brutal thrash metal outfit Num Skull are yet another 1980's band that time seems to have been very kind to, having slowly built up somewhat of a cult following over the several decades since their debut album “Ritually Abused” hit the shelves back in 1988. I was certainly aware of it back in my tape trading days & probably gave it a few more chances to seal the deal with me than I might usually do based purely on my love of the more brutal end of thrash metal. I can’t say that it ever really impressed me enough to become a go-to record when I’m in the mood for that kinda thing though so I never bothered to explore their 1996 follow-up record "When Suffering Comes". Regardless of that, there’s been a lot of water go under the bridge since forming my lasting impressions of “Ritually Abused” so perhaps I’ve been a little harsh on it. I intended to find out when I revisited it over the last couple of days.

The production job on “Ritually Abused” is everything you’d expect from an underground metal release of the time & was handled by legendary scene figure Griffy who was most notable for managing bands like Motley Crue & Death as well as for being the co-promoter of the Milwaukee Metalfest. He also produced releases for a string of respected bands such as Morbid Saint. There’s very little gloss & polish about “Ritually Abused” with Num Skull being presented in a suitably raw fashion that works quite well for this style of music. The levels are often overdriven to the point of distortion but you can still make out all of the instruments & everything feels quite authentic to the late 80’s model of underground thrash. The musicianship is very good for a debut release too & you can easily see that the band had paid some dues during their three years of existence.

Num Skull place their cards down on the table very early on in proceedings with their sound being built upon a few things. Firstly, we have the violent, high-speed thrash assault of Sadus, Kreator & “Darkness Descends”-era Dark Angel. This is done marvelously well at times too, particularly through the hectic Slayer-style guitar solo sections which generally represent a no-hold-barred attack on the senses. Num Skull regularly incorporate chuggier mid-tempo sections that wouldn’t feel out of place on an Anthrax record though & this material isn’t nearly as effective although it’s hard to argue that there needed to be some respite given from the relentless up-tempo stuff. Also worth noting is the vocal delivery of front man Skip McGullam which sits very much in the late-80’s death metal space, particularly reminding me of Death mastermind Chuck Schuldiner. That recipe certainly sounds pretty good on paper & the more aggressive tracks are unanimously successful at what they'd set out to achieve but it’s not all roses in thrash town.

The main detractor I find with “Ritually Abused” is in the mid-tempo material which isn’t bad in isolation but sounds pretty light-weight when placed alongside the more vicious stuff. Skip’s vocal style doesn’t exactly gel over mosh-worthy Anthrax riffs either & subsequently sounds a bit forced. I’d also suggest that even the strongest tracks (such as “No Morals”, “Turn of a Screw”, “Kiss Me, Kill Me”, “Rigor Mortis” & my personal favourite “Death & Innocence”) suffer from a lack of identity in their riffs. To be more specific, the overall energy is fantastic but the riffs aren’t all that memorable & Skip’s vocals don’t offer much in the way of hooks either which prevents any of these tracks from reaching classic status. Then we have a couple of clear duds in “Pirate’s Night” & the decidedly flat speed metal closer “Murder By The Minister” which tarnish a lot of the good work Num Skull had done elsewhere.

Don’t get me wrong, there’s a lot to like about “Ritually Abused” but I can’t say that it’s essential listening by any means. Fans of bands like Devastation, Morbid Saint & Solstice should definitely check it out as there’s not nearly enough extreme thrash around but just don’t go into it expecting a fully-realized & supreme example of its type. You will, however, find a fine selection of tracks to include on your gym playlists though.

3.5/5

Pestilence - "Malleus Maleficarum" (1988)

Dutch death metal legends Pestilence played an important role in my original defection from thrash metal back in the very late 1980’s through their seminal 1989 sophomore record “Consuming Impulse” & they would quickly become a mainstay in my newly instigated death metal obsession for decades to come. Their position was only strengthened by their classic “Testimony of the Ancients” album (my Pestilence release of choice) in 1991 while I also found 1993’s experimental “Spheres” record to be more than a little intriguing. It’s a little baffling that I didn’t give Pestilence’s highly regarded 1988 debut album “Malleus Maleficarum” more time than I did though to be honest. I’d suggest that it was probably due to its thrashier sound which was a little at odds with the adjusted musical direction I was starting to take. I certainly found it to be an entertaining record but I didn’t find myself pushing its cause with others or reaching for it whenever I was putting together any top ten lists. It’s been decades since I’ve heard it now though & I feel it’s deserving of a revisit given that its reputation has only grown in the many years since.

Shortly after you first press play on “Malleus Maleficarum” it becomes abundantly clear that Pestilence were already a super-classy metal band because this music doesn’t sound much like a debut album from 1988 given the ambition & precision on show. German producer Kalle Trapp has done an excellent job at capturing such a raw & aggressive sound, drawing upon his previous experience in producing popular Teutonic artists such as Destruction, Paradox, Sieges Even & Blind Guardian to create one of the more professional releases to come from the late 80’s extreme metal scene. The musicianship is outstanding with the riffs possessing a consistent memorability that would become one of the band’s calling cards over the next five years. The use of progressive flourishes within the riff structures may not be anything terribly unusual these days but it was well ahead of its time back in 1988 & is executed with surprising confidence for such a young band too.

While “Malleus Maleficarum” is generally regarded as a thrash metal record, I would argue that it’s a genuine death/thrash release because it maintains a level of ambiguity throughout the ten tracks included with many of the riffs sounding like they’d be equally at home on either side of the line of segregation. Pestilence often showcase an angularity that would seep its way into the death metal scene through heavy-weights like Death but also maintain the visceral thrash metal edge that the Teutonic thrash metal scene had built its reputation on. In short, guitarists Patrick Mameli (who spent some time with Dutch groove metallers C-187 in the mid-2000’s) & Randy Meinhard (also of Dutch thrashers Sacrosanct) simply weren’t willing to settle for mere emulation. They wanted to achieve something more substantial & I’d suggest they were successful at that undertaking too. Patrick’s solos may not have been as polished or fully realized as they would become shortly afterwards but the rhythm guitar work certainly sounds pretty impressive for the time nonetheless. The other element worth mentioning in the death metal argument is the vocal delivery of legendary death metal figure Martin van Drunen (Asphyx/Grand Supreme Blood Court/Hail of Bullets) which may not be the psychotic howl he’d build his career on at this point but is deathly enough to be significant in the argument for a dual tagging. He kinda sounds like the love child of Motorhead’s Lemmy Killmeister & Death’s Chuck Schuldiner here but I really enjoy his contribution. Overall, I’d suggest that “Malleus Maleficarum” takes the potent thrash metal of Sodom, Kreator & particularly "Schizophrenia"-era Sepultura & combines it with the early US death metal of Possessed & Death for a best-of-both-worlds sound that ticks all of my boxes in emphatic fashion.

There are no weak moments on “Malleus Maleficarum”. The tracklisting is as muscular as it is consistent but the big moments take place at either end of the run time with opener “Malleus Maleficarum/Antropomorphia” & closers “Cycle of Existence” & “Systematic Instruction” being my personal favourites. The beautiful clean interlude “Osculum Infame” is also stunningly well executed & was a clear hint at the creativity & experimentation that was to come in the future. The middle of the album is more solid than classic but maintains a high level of sophistication throughout.

I’ve been really surprised by how hard “Malleus Maleficarum” has hit me on this revisit to be honest as I don’t often reach for it when I feel the need for a Pestilence hit. My passion for the more aggressive thrash metal of the late 1980’s & early 1990’s has only grown if anything though & that has perhaps contributed to me taking a lot more from the album than I may have anticipated. In fact, I’d go so far as to say that it’s just shaded “Consuming Impulse” to become my second favourite Pestilence release behind “Testimony of the Ancients” which is really saying something. It’s also gone very close to breaking into my elite ratings so I'd suggest that “Malleus Maleficarum really should be regarded as essential death/thrash these days & it comes highly recommended from this ol' metalhead.

4/5

Anthrax - "Penikufesin" E.P. (1989)

My initiation to thrash metal hit me like a freight train through Metallica’s “…And Justice For All” album in late 1988 & I’d proceed to throw myself into the Big Four with a commitment that I’ve rarely matched in my life. Anthrax would very quickly find my radar, although admittedly after both Slayer & Megadeth. It would be their 1988 fourth album “State of Euphoria” that would be my first experience with New York’s most notorious thrash exponents & I’d very quickly venture back through their entire back catalogue too. Each new release would be eagerly awaited & purchased on the day of release so when I noticed an expensive imported European vinyl copy of 1989’s “Penikufesin” E.P. (i.e. backwards for “nice fuckin E.P.”) in the local record store I immediately forked out my hard-earned money for it. It was a fairly insignificant release in the grand scheme of things but I had to own literally everything & I remember it being a bit of fun.

“Penikufesin” is your classic example of the metal E.P. in that (with the exception of opener “Now It’s Dark” which is taken from the “State of Euphoria” album) it essentially draws together a bunch of leftover material that wouldn’t fit terribly well on a proper album. “Now It’s Dark” wasn’t one of my personal favourites from that particular record but I definitely have some time for it so it was an enjoyable way to kick things off. It leads into a variation on another track from “State of Euphoria” in a French language version of Anthrax’s very popular Trust cover version “Antisocial”. I’ve always thought that “Antisocial” was one of the weaker tracks on “State of Euphoria” too but it’s still very catchy & serves its purpose quite well here too. The remainder of “Penikufesin” is made up of four additional cover versions that were recorded during the album sessions in Sex Pistols’ “Friggin’ in the Riggin”, KISS’ “Parasite”, Trust’s “Sects” & The Chantay’s “Pipeline”, a collection whose merits are fairly shaky at best. Three of the four songs would be included on 1991’s “Attack of the Killer B’s” compilation with only “Friggin’ in the Riggin” (a B side from the “Make Me Laugh” single) being unique to this release.

“Penikufesin” sees Anthrax in their strongest incarnation with the same lineup that recorded classic albums like “Spreading The Disease”, “Among The Living” & “Persistence of Time” still going strong but it’s also not intended to be taken too seriously & I’m sure that even their label Island Records would agree that its target audience was only ever intended to be diehard fans. English producer Mark Dodson had a fair bit of experience under his belt by that point, having already built up an impressive resume that included not only “State of Euphoria” but also albums like Metal Church’s “The Dark”, Suicidal Tendencies’ “How Will I Laugh Tomorrow If I Can’t Even Smile Today” & U.D.O.’s “Animal House”, so he knew his way around the studio & the release is well presented as a result. I guess it just depends on your personality as to how much value you’re going to find in a release like this one as it sees Anthrax fully exploring their silly side. You know, the one that saw them making a track like “I’m The Man” & galivanting around on stage in surf wear. If that sort of stuff puts you off then potentially so will “Penikufesin” as a whole. Where do I sit on that particular topic? Well, I generally don’t like too much humour in my metal & it’s subsequently taken some of the gloss off the experience if I’m being honest.

Despite my feelings of nostalgia for this record, “Friggin’ in the Riggin” & the silly surf rock cover version “Pipeline” do nothing for me whatsoever while “Parasite” suffers from a very flat chorus after some promising lead-up work. The speed metal version of “Sects”, on the other hand”, is an excellent inclusion & is the highlight of the release for mine. It’s worth mentioning that tracks like “Friggin’ in the Riggin”, “Parasite” & “Pipeline” aren’t exactly thrash metal either. They fall much closer to your traditional heavy metal model only they also possess that punky vibe that was perhaps a little absent on “State of Euphoria” which was admittedly a touch more serious than we’d usually expect from Anthrax too. There’s little doubt that I prefer a thrashier Anthrax. Also, what is the go with American thrash bands producing surfing tunes in the late 1980’s? First it was M.O.D. & Sacred Reich. Now Anthrax too?

I think it’s fair to say that I’ve been a little underwhelmed by this revisit when I consider how much fun I had with records like this one as a thirteen year old. I didn’t know that “Attack of the Killer B’s” was going to be a thing at the time & that's certainly made an impact on the value you might get out "Penikufesin" in the several decades since its release but, when you take a look at it in any sort of detail, “Penikufesin” is still a pretty disposable record, even if I do get quite a bit of enjoyment from a good half of the tracklisting. It’s certainly the weakest release they'd put out since their demo days in my opinion & is very much a release for Anthrax completists only although Overkill, Nuclear Assault & S.O.D. diehards may find something of value in it too.

3/5

Sabbat - "Dreamweaver" (1989)

English thrash metal front-runners Sabbat & I have had an interesting relationship over the years. I originally came across them through their 1989 sophomore album “Dreamweaver” in the very early 1990’s & they peaked my interest enough to see me investigating their 1988 debut album “History of a Time to Come” shortly afterwards too. It’s been many years since I last heard the debut but I remember really getting into it back in the day. “Dreamweaver” has been the one that’s gone on to gain most of the accolades though & I don’t recall myself being quite as infatuated as a lot of the gushing online reviews I’ve read in recent times. I certainly enjoyed the album but I can’t say that I ever placed it in the top couple of tiers of the thrash metal hierarchy. It’s been a very long time between drinks though so it’s about time I reached an informed position on one of the more senior thrash records of the late 1980’s.

Sabbat had maintained a steady lineup since “History of a Time to Come” which can’t be a bad thing although they’d since added a second guitarist in the relatively unknown Simon Jones. I won’t argue with that approach as dual guitar configurations have always been the way to go for extreme metal bands as far as I'm concerned. Label Noise Records once again dragged Sabbat over to Berlin for the recording sessions & gave Roy M. Rowland another chance at producing the album following some presumably positive experiences with “History of a Time to Come”. Rowland’s production experience wasn’t limited to Sabbat & also included records like Kreator’s “Terrible Certainty”, Laaz Rockit’s “Know Your Enemy” & “Annihilation Principle”, Midas Touch’s “Presage of Disaster”, Pariah’s “The Kindred” & Satan’s “Suspended Sentence” so he certainly knew his way around a studio. I have to admit that I was expecting something a little cleaner when going into my first revisit of “Dreamweaver” though as Sabbat just seem to give off this proggy vibe which is more about their image than anything musical. The reality is that “Dreamweaver” sounds pretty raw with the guitars slicing the listener like a finely sharpened blade.

“Dreamweaver” bursts out of the blocks with the first two tracks being the most effective on the tracklisting & seeing me holding out significant hope for a high-quality thrash metal journey. Atmospheric spoken word intro piece “The Beginning of the End” sets the scene nicely before album highlight “The Clerical Conspiracy” sets off at a rate of knots & shows Sabbat’s riffs to be underpinned by a Venom-inspired speed metal backbone that holds both energy & urgency. Unfortunately though, I find that “Dreamweaver” never again meets the promise of those early moments, instead feeling a lot more middling for the remainder of the album even if there aren’t many tracks that I consider to be legitimate failures. The lengthy “The Best of Enemies” is the exception to the rule as I find myself getting bored pretty early on which can’t be a good thing. Some of the other tracks offer great sections but they invariably fail to deliver a truly compelling holistic package.

The concept album format, cover artwork & focus on Skyclad front man Martin Walkyier’s lyrics lead one to expect a sound that’s much more progressive than the reality which isn't all that sophisticated or challenging, despite the lengthy song durations. Walkyier’s vocals dominate proceedings as they’re quite distinctive but, if I’m being honest, he can be a little irritating. He kinda sits in the snarly middle ground between Venom’s Cronos & Destruction’s Schmier but potentially overplays his hand a little in the interest of the storyline. He’s also quite monotonous in his delivery so can feel like he's spewing out a constant barrage of words. The riffs rely heavily on aggressive tremolo-picking & sheer speed but are not as interesting as one would hope so the lengthy track durations can tend to drag a bit.

Don't get me wrong, “Dreamweaver” is a pretty good thrash record & I’m probably being a little harsh on it due to the fact that its merits seem to be so unjustly inflated. I’d suggest that you probably have to become involved with it from a lyrical & thematic perspective in order to reap its full rewards though as the remainder is simply not as classic as it’s made out to be. Fans of Holy Terror, Hydra Vein & early Skyclad will no doubt find “Dreamweaver” to be of interest but I can’t see it challenging the Big Four any time soon.

3.5/5

Executioner - "Metal Up Your Ass" 7" single (1985)

The earliest studio recordings from Obituary which was another one that I picked up during my early tape trading days. The sound quality is pretty good since it was recorded at the legendary Morrisound Studios in Tampa. They were still a thrash metal band at this point & were heavily influenced by local Florida heroes Nasty Savage. John Tardy still had a hardcore-ish thrash delivery too. The title track is quite enjoyable in a naive, endearing way. The faster & more intense "Syco-Pathic Mind" less so.

3/5

Darkthrone - "A New Dimension" demo (1988)

Darkthrone's second demo tape was a two-track affair that included a short, atmospheric & fairly effective dark ambient intro piece followed by a single nine-minute instrumental called "Snowfall". It was a pretty ambitious undertaking & I'm not sure that it makes all that much structural sense to be honest. I'd suggest that "Snowfall" is more of a thrash metal track than anything else & it's got very little to do with the doom/death of their "Land of Frost" demo from earlier in 1988. The production & musicianship is significantly better though. I slightly prefer "Land of Frost" over "A New Dimension" but there's very little in it & neither are worthy of your hard-earned time.

2.5/5

Cannibal Corpse - "Cannibal Corpse" demo (1989)

It's interesting how time can change your opinion on a release & Buffalo death metal legends Cannibal Corpse's initial studio effort is one such release for me. When I picked it up through the tape trading scene off the back of their first couple of albums back in the day I was largely disappointed. In hindsight I would suggest that a lot of that can be put down to the sound quality of the dubbed cassette version I received because the version that's included on 2003's "15 Year Killing Spree" actually sounds really clear, bright & vibrant. The music is admittedly not the same brand of death metal we've come to know Cannibal Corpse for though. Their 1990 "Eaten Back To Life" debut album was inherently thrashy but this demo is even more so, despite all five songs having been re-recorded for the album in largely the same format. A lot of that comes down to the vocal delivery of Chris Barnes who doesn't come close to a death grunt here, instead offering something very similar to that of your grimy & excitable crossover thrash front man. With the vocals providing a little more of a thrash context, the music actually sounds a little more thrash metal than it does death metal too although it admittedly sits on the more brutal end of the genre with bands like Demolition Hammer. The production & performances are very good which certainly helps the band's cause but you know what? This is actually a really decent demo tape & I think I've treated it a little unfairly over the years.

3.5/5

Coroner - "Death Cult" demo (1986)

The Swiss tech thrash legends began in slightly more subdued style with this four-song demo tape I picked up back in my tape trading days, mainly due to my interest in hearing a Tom G. Warrior fronted Coroner.I t's pretty well produced for an 80's thrash demo & you can hear all of the finer nuances. Stylistically we see Coroner still developing their sound with only "Spiral Dream" taking the more technical direction we'd hear on the band's debut album "R.I.P." the following year. Opener "Spectators of Sin" straddles both speed & thrash metal, the fairly flat instrumental "Aerial Combat" sits in the more complex end of traditional thrash & closer "The Invincible" (my personal favourite) alternates between slow doom metal & uptempo thrash. Warrior's vocals are the best thing about this release in my opinion but there's merit to the ambitious instrumentation too just quietly. Imagine the proggy heavy metal of Mercyful Fate, the speed/thrash of early Slayer/Destruction & the weighty grunt of Celtic Frost being topped off with some added complexity & you won't be far off the mark. "Death Cult" is one of the better European thrash demos of the 1980's in my opinion & is worth a couple of listens for fans of the band.

3.5/5

Suicidal Tendencies - "Lights Camera Revolution" (1990)

After recently discovering that I've been overrating Suicidal Tendencies' 1988 third album "How Will I Laugh Tomorrow When I Can't Even Smile Today" for several decades now, I felt that I'd better drop by my supposed "favourite" crossover thrash record ever in 1990's "Lights Camera Revolution" to see if I've been affording it the same sort of misguided nostalgia. It turns out that I have been too which has frustrated me a bit. Whenever I've thought about "Lights Camera Revolution" I've been inclined to go straight to the two clear highlight tracks in classic opener "You Can't Bring Me Down" & thrashtastic up-tempo number "Disco's Out, Murder's In" but there's a fair whack of filler scattered across the tracklisting too, not to mention the major flaw which is Mike Muir's completely incompetent vocals which struggle to meet anything like the key of the instrumentation most of the time. Thankfully the exciting guitar work of Rocky George & Mike Clark is exceptional which still makes this Suicidal Tendencies' best work but it's just not nearly as strong as I'd made it out to be over the years. It's also not a crossover thrash record as most people seem to claim as there's next to no hardcore influence here. It's a genuine thrash metal release in my opinion although there are bits of heavy metal & alternative metal floating around too. Overall, I find "Lights Camera Revolution" to be worth a couple of listens but it's far from essential as it simply doesn't contain the substance of a "Seasons In The Abyss" or a "Coma Of Souls".

3.5/5

Celtic Frost - "Vanity/Nemesis" (1990)

The Swiss thrash legends returned from their disastrous 1988 glam metal experiment "Cold Lake" with a record that saw them retreating to the chunky mid-tempo extreme metal of their heyday, at least for half of the run time. The other half of the record sees them further examining a more traditional heavy metal sound but with only mixed results it has to be said. Thomas Gabriel Warrior's vocal delivery is still showing the remnants of his failed commercial venture but the guitar tone he'd built his reputation on is certainly there. Unfortunately the quality of the song-writing is a bit hit & miss though which leaves "Vanity/Nemesis" in the inessential space, even if there's definitely enough to keep me interested in the occasional nostalgia session like this one.

3.5/5

Flotsam & Jetsam - "When The Storm Comes Down" (1990)

I purchased a cassette copy of the third album from these Arizona thrash metal legends shortly after release after having been a fan of Flotsam & Jetsam's 1986 debut album "Doomsday for the Deceiver" & (to a lesser extent) their 1988 sophomore album "No Place for Disgrace" during the previous year. I quite liked it too but it seems to have gone on to be known as somewhat of a disappointment by fans over time. That seems a little bit harsh in retrospect because "When The Storm Comes Down" is quite a serviceable thrash metal album as far as I can see. I can only assume that it's the slightly weak production job & the fact that it's more of a mid-paced thrash release than the band's first two records were that are the points of contention. Still... I'd argue that it doesn't sound all that different to the more highly regarded Testament & (particularly) Anthrax records of the time, only Eric AK's higher register voice sits somewhere between Rush's Geddy Lee & Dream Theater's James LaBrie rather than in a traditional thrash metal range. My opinion hasn't changed on this one. It's certainly a step down from the debut but I actually don't think it sits too far behind the often overrated "No Place for Disgrace" if I'm being honest so I can't understand the flack it cops at times.

3.5/5