The Thrash Metal Thread

Renegade - "Total Armageddon" (1987)

If you do a bit of research into the history of thrash metal in my home country of Australia, you'll often find yourself being told that Melbourne's Renegade represent band one in that story as they were reportedly first formed all the way back in 1982. I've never bought into that opinion personally as the evidence simply doesn't stack up. I'm not denying that Renegade were probably around as early as any other band that would go on to play extreme metal over time but if you follow the early "recorded" history of Aussie thrash fairly closely you'll soon start to question the timeline for when Renegade first transitioned into a genuine thrash band as their 1985 demo tape is more of a speed metal release than it is a thrash one with the heavy metal influence still a little too prominent for genuine thrash status. The song "Black Ritual" certainly proved that they had it in them but we'd have to wait until 1987 to see them finally taking that potential & turning it to reality with their sole album "Total Armageddon", a record that has gone down in Aussie metal folklore as a seriously important release in the grand scheme of extreme metal in this country. I can't stress enough how highly regarded it was by older metalheads when I first entered the scene in the late 1980's & early 1990's & can recall many a drunken night of air guitar & backyard moshing while accompanied by its charms. Let's take a look at it in a little more depth today & see if it holds up against the legend that surrounds it.

While the authenticity of Renegade's 1985 demo tape as a genuine thrash release is questionable at best, the same cannot be said of "Total Armageddon" as it's a total thrashfest with each of the eight songs included sitting very comfortably under a thrash tag. The album was recorded with producer Bruce Johnston at Melbourne's Jam Tin Studios some time in 1986 with Johnston's only other notable metal credit coming in the form of the 1987 "Warlords album from relatively unknown Melbourne heavy metal outfit S.A.S. Johnston's plays an important role here though as "Total Armageddon" beautifully harnesses the raw energy of Renegade at the time while allowing all instruments to maintain complete clarity throughout. I would suggest that the cover artwork has also played some sort of role in the records success with the image of VB-drinking devil aligning fairly closely with many Aussie metalhead's ideals back in the late 1980's.

"Total Armageddon" is a consistently fast record that barely takes its foot off the accelerator or stop for a breath at any point. Many of the more up-tempo riffs remind me a lot of Metallica's "Kill 'Em All" album while the moments when Renegade do tone the velocity back a bit seem to have been heavily influenced by classic Slayer & Mercyful Fate which can't be a bad thing now, can it? Front man Johnny Beer possesses a raspy delivery that reminds me more of Teutonic thrash acts like Destruction than it does the Americans & his performance here is an important ingredient in the overall appeal of a record like this one as he does an excellent job at calling Renegade's fanbase to arms while also separating the band from the more traditional heavy metal acts that had surrounded them for the majority of their existence to the time. Bassist Steve Scott (who would also appear on Hobbs Angel of Death's self-titled demo tape later the same year) puts in a great performance with his basslines being easily heard throughout the entire album. This most certainly isn't a terribly ambitious album from an instrumental point of view though as there's nothing you haven't heard before & the riff structures do tend to be quite simple but it's all executed with a clear understanding of what made 1980's thrash so great so there's nothing to complain about for fans of that era. The rare moments of experimentation (such as the acoustic guitar section in "Lucifer's Reign") are done very well & provide a nice contrast to the aggressive tremolo-picked speed metal riffs that make up the remainder of the record so it's pretty clear that Renegade had paid their dues & were very much a well-oiled machine by this stage of their evolution. Drummer Mick Scott is probably the weaker component of the band though as his kick drum work isn't as tight as the true masters of the genre. I really dig it when he goes for a driving Charlie Benante-style beat during the more ballsy parts of the album though & he displays good restraint during the chuggy halftime parts too.

The tracklisting offers great consistency with no weak songs included in the eight on offer. The title track is the clear standout in my opinion though as it reminds me of the unbridled aggression that the Teutonic thrash scene had built its reputation on. A couple of tracks from Renegade's 1985 demo tape ("Black Ritual" & "Lucifer's Reign") have been revisited with the latter being a stronger & more muscular effort than the original. While few listeners will deny that "Total Armageddon" is a thrash release, the speed metal sound that dominated the demo tape is still evident in the high velocities & uncluttered tremolo-picked riff structures which are well supported by Johnston's production job which helps to keep things sounding attractive & professional. All of this amounts to a more than decent thrash record that competes fairly well on a global scale but which no doubt threw a fairly nasty cat amongst the pigeons as far as the local scene went as I don't think that Australia had seen a release of this intensity before, at least not one in a proper album format. Renegade's role in Australian thrash cannot be denied in this respect & it's not hard to see why the old-schoolers are still waxing lyrical about it either.

For fans of Tyrus, classic Slayer & "Kill 'Em All"-period Metallica.

3.5/5

Slaughter Lord - "Taste of Blood" demo (1987)

This short demo tape from a little-known Sydney extreme metal band represents the pinnacle of underground indulgence as it went on to become far more influential than most metalheads are probably aware of with everyone from Morbid Angel to Fenriz to Bathory & At The Gates waxing lyrical about its importance over the years. It includes just the three songs but manages to combine thrash metal, death metal & black metal to come up with a cacophony of sound that the world was not quite prepared for at the time & one that would go a long way to creating what we now know as war metal in the process too. It's not a perfect release as the thrash component tends to amount to some dodgy Slayer worship but the more extreme material is highly captivating as it possesses an unbridled fury that's rarely been matched in all the time since. "Taste of Blood" is very much a Sydney metal institution but should probably be on the radar of all fans of the more brutal end of 80's thrash too as it combines the most extreme elements of everything else that was going on in the world at the time, from the South Americans to the Teutonic scene to Bathory & the more intense examples of US thrash. It's all presented in a style that would become an Aussie signature though with a whole slew of bands tackling a black/death/thrash hybrid sound over the many years since. I still wear my Slaughter Lord t-shirt with pride, despite my wife being horrified every time I pull it out & continuously insisting that I don't wear it for school pickup duties.

For fans of Order From Chaos, Poison (GER) & Sadistik Exekution.

3.5/5

Cremator - "Evil Brew" demo (1987)

The debut release from this obscure Perth thrash metal group that I've never gotten on with. They take a silly approach to their thrash which is more about drinking beer & having fun than anything too serious. The vocals are probably my main concern here with guitarist Bevan Wilkerson often resorting to high-pitched squeals that sound uncannily like Destruction front man Schmier. The rhythm guitar sound is stupidly messy while the lead tone sounds outrageously light-weight & downright strange. I do still find myself liking "United" though which is the most intense & thrashtastic song on offer but the rest does very little for me. Interestingly, drummer Russell Hopkinson was a former member of Melbourne hardcore punk outfit Vicious Circle & also went on to play for popular Aussie alternative rock bands You Am I & Nursery Crimes.

For fans of Anthrax, S.O.D. & Destruction.

2.5/5