The Thrash Metal Thread

Exodus: Bonded By Blood

In the eyes of many metalheads, heaviness canbe a more defining factor than writing ability. This is why some more simplistic albums, like Kreator's Pleasure to Kill, are more well-received than many of their more creative efforts later on. So since this is Exodus' debut, it's not much of a surprise that a few of the songs have the same tempo and vibe. This album helped to push the limits of what was generally accepted in metal at the time. You can tell from the structures of the songs that these guys listened to a fair bit of that old-fashioned NWOBHM stuff like Iron Maiden, which explains the thankful focus on melody and riffs being handled and treated like equals. That's a difficult thing to do for a lot of thrash bands. Unfortunately for me, I'm a Metallica guy, and I'm that way because their golden age is diversified, exceptionally poetic and has a vocalist who doesn't need all those effects to maintain a form of power. I'm certain this singer here's done that without effects on other albums, but it was a faint distraction for me.

Now if I wanna pump myself up, I might choose a couple of songs from this album for the sake of that. The fact that each song goes for the same vibe, core and genre does in fact mean it's not a very creative effort in that vein, but the balance of melody and riffs is quite impressive, ensuring that Bonded By Blood is a consistently great effort and a good example of how to do thrash right, even if it's technically just one way.

90/100

Frozen Doberman - "Frozen Doberman" demo (1989)

The first demo tape from this four-piece thrash metal band from the Central Coast of NSW. The production is pretty crap with all instruments sounding pretty weak. The vocals are in a similar style to Anthrax's Joey Belladonna but are nowhere near as capable with the lyrics being pretty immature too. I saw these guys play live a few times during the 1990's as they were somewhat of a mainstay of the local scene at the time but they were certainly a lot better than this by that point.

For fans of Anthrax, Sacred Reich & Exodus.

2.5/5

Holy Rite - "Mosh for the Master" demo (1989)

A one-off demo tape from a Christian death/thrash five-piece from Hornsby in Sydney. It's a complete piss-take too which certainly helps with stomaching the cheesy religious themes. The instrumentation generally sits in the conventional thrash metal space although there are a couple of tracks that are more like crossover thrash & heavy metal. The vocals are a different story with most of the seven-song tracklisting seeing front man John Courtney taking a more extreme death/black metal direction complete with the occasional King Diamond-style soprano dive-bomb. In fact, there's a fair bit of Mercyful Fate in some of the riffs & solos too actually. These guys would go on to become a more significant death metal band by the name of Deracination in the early 1990's with drummer Gary O'Connell also playing in a band that my own band Neuropath used to associate with a little bit in Destrier. This cassette is certainly pretty fun at times (see the hilarious intro track or the riotous "Mosh" for example) but I'm not too sure that many non-Aussies would get it to be honest as it's kind of a celebration of our self-embraced hobbo-isms. I don't think you'd be missing out on too much in the grand scheme of things but blackened thrash closer "Or You Will Die" is pretty cool.

For fans of Spectral Birth, Incubus (AUS) & Slaughter Lord.

2.5/5

Addictive - "Pity of Man" (1989)

The debut album from these Sydney thrash metal legends who made a big impact on me in my youth. It comes off the back of the pretty decent "Ward 74" demo tape from the previous year & sees Addictive taking things to another level with a very solid outing buoyed by a production job that beautifully showcases the four-piece's aggressive take on the genre. Some of the songs from the demo tape have been re-recorded here & have benefited from the more professional packaging, particularly a rhythm guitar tone that reminds me a lot of Slayer. There's a strong consistency to this material that I'd describe as sitting somewhere between the Bay Area thrash of Testament & the more extreme sound of Slayer & Kreator. I know that sounds very good on paper but it also ends up delivering on that potential & I can easily hear the influence that this album has had on a band like Allegiance. I'm not surprised either as I think this is a step up from some of the more well-known Aussie thrash records like Mortal Sin's "Mayhemic Destruction" & "Face of Despair" or Hobbs Angel of Death's self-titled debut. Guitarists Joe Buttigieg & Mick Sultana would go on to play with Mortal Sin during their 2000's comeback actually while drummer Matt Coffey would spend some time with a couple of notable Canberra metal bands in alternative metallers Henry's Anger & underground death metal legends Psychrist. "Pity of Man" comes highly recommended to all of our members of The Pit.

For fans of Massive Appendage, Acrophet & Allegiance.

4/5

Dark Angel - Leave Scars (1989)

Genres: Thrash Metal

Ironic that the first post on this thread is a Dark Angel review.  This is a return to the album after having it in my thrash chart for a couple of years.  But a return to Darkness Descends a while back and a lowered rating  made it necessary to return to this and see if it still belongs in my top 100 of thrash or my top 100 of 1989.  It seems pretty obvious from the first track that the primary focus of this album is simply to thrash and be heavy, so that's not necessarily a good sign despite appealing to the metalhead in me with its raw power, especially where Hoglan is concerned.  This guy's prowess goes far beyond the standard thrash that these guys play.  But in this raw power is also some subpar mixing.  Things are a little fuzzier than I like, and combined with the ambiance of the vocals, I can barely make out what Rinehart's saying.  So the production alone has a big pro and a big con.  On top of that, the guitarists' solos aren't really doing anything for me anymore.  Thankfully, there are some instances of real compositional skill.  The seven-minute song No One Answers gets better as it goes along, for example.  But the mixing can also really screw things up.  The instrumental Cauterization's maxing is constantly getting in the way of the guitars, almost making it sound more like a harsh noise album than a metal album.  I get it, they have power.  Now can that power be molded with SONGWRITING?  You know, like Butcher the Weak, Ride the Lightning, any Emperor album, PAINKILLER?

I'm not sure why I ever gave this album a 9/10.  Did the heaviness really hypnotize me that much when I first heard it?  Damn. That actually hurts.  They didn't even manage to do justice to that Zeppelin cover.  Was I even paying attention to the album?  It really is a brutal album.  This is the kind of brutality that slam death metal bands wish they could achieve, and thankfully the band makes it look easy.  Unfortunately, everything is album the album is just OK.  Having said this, even though I'm disappointed in myself for betraying my long-time standards for heaviness back then, I'm happy about this major correction.

65 / 100

Persecution - "Tortured Existence" demo (1989)

I've decided that this one-off demo tape from a relatively unknown Victorian death/thrash four-piece is actually my favourite Aussie extreme metal release of the 1980's this week. I picked it up through the tape trading scene back in the early 1990's & quickly became heavily into its well-executed combination of aggressive thrash metal instrumentation & monstrous death growls. The classic Slayer influence is undeniable but I don't seem to care as that's the sound that changed my life more than any other & I simply can't get enough of it. The quality across the twenty-two-minute run time is extremely consistent with all four songs sitting at a very solid level without ever reaching the top tier. Bass player Bo Remy also played in Hobbs Angel of Death during the 2010's & drummer Dakka featured on some of the better mid-to-late-80's releases from crossover thrash outfit Depression who I really like. Interestingly, Persecution used to be known as No Remorse who released a single demo tape called "Stroke of Death" that I quite liked in 1988. I highly recommend that our The Pit members check out the "Tortured Existence" CD compilation which draws together both demo tapes for a truly underground Aussie thrash experience. 

For fans of Slayer, Sepultura & Spectral Birth.

4/5