The Pit

OK, one more encore for this thread, this album from another popular thrash band I haven't checked out until now...

Testament is known as one of the SECONDARY Big 4 of thrash, alongside Exodus, Overkill and Death Angel. Reviewing this album The Formation of Damnation is a good leap from Slayer's Repentless since drummer Paul Bostaph stepped in to play drums for this Testament album at a time when Dave Lombardo (who also recently rejoined Testament) continued his time with Slayer. I also remember guitarist Alex Skolnick performing with Savatage and Trans-Siberian Orchestra. However, the quality varies in lukewarm ways. Some songs are brilliant, others are just uninspired. It's a bit frustrating when one half of the album is great and the other is more average. The highlights each have strong melody and a catchy chorus, along with fast harsh aggression for the speedier fans. However, the few poor tracks lose a bit of the band's earlier skill, and while there's longer guitar soloing, it just lacks anything memorable and comes out as pretty much aimless. The flawless highlights are certainly worth listening to, especially for thrash fans. Yet those poor tracks leave me ending another encore to my Ultimate Pit Test with a slight foul taste in my metal mouth....

3.5/5

https://open.spotify.com/playlist/083tGvGRuasSsmN8d3Nyww?si=ca159de8dff441af

01. Exhorder – “Legions of Death” (from “Slaughter in the Vatican”, 1990) [Submitted by Sonny]

02. Demolition Hammer – “Skull Fracturing Nightmare” (from “Epidemic of Violence”, 1992)

03. The Scourger – “Dark Invitation to Armageddon” (from “Dark Invitation to Armageddon”, 2008)

04. Autonoesis – “Moon of Foul Magics” (from “Moon of Foul Magics”, 2022) [Submitted by Daniel]

05. Hanzel und Gretyl- “We Rise As Demons” (from “Satanik Germanik”, 2018)

06. Whipstriker – “Midnight, Sex & Wine” (from “7” Eps 2014 – 2017 (Seven Inches of Hell, Part II)”, 2018) [Submitted by Vinny]

07. The Accüsed – “Distractions” (from “Oh, Martha!”, 2005) [Submitted by Sonny]

08. G.I.S.M. – “(Tere Their) Syphilitic Vaginas to Pieces” (from “Detestation”, 1983) [Submitted by Daniel]

09. Nekrofilth – “Ready to Defile” (from “Worm Ritual”, 2018)

10. Hellbringer – “Coven of Darkness” (from “Awakened From the Abyss”, 2016)

11. Beastiality – “Sacrificial Chants” (from “Sacrificial Chants”, 2022) [Submitted by Vinny]

12. Hellish– “Black Stones” (from “The Dance of the Four Elemental Serpents”, 2022) [Submitted by Sonny]

13. Bulldozer. – “Fallen Angel” (from “The Day of Wrath”, 1985) [Submitted by Sonny]

14. Death SS – “Inquisitor - 1983” (from “The Story of Death SS: 1977 – 1984”, 1987) [Submitted by Daniel]

15. Nether – “Event Horizon” (from “Beyond the Celestial Sphere”, 2020)

16. Testament – “Night of the Witch” (from “Titans of Creation”, 2020)

17. Anthrax – “Time” (from “Persistence of Time”, 1990) [Submitted by Sonny]

18. Sepultura – “Slaves of Pain” (from “Beneath the Remains”, 1989)

19. Kreator– “Pleasure to Kill” (from “Pleasure to Kill”, 1986)

20. Must Kill – “Ghost Malevolent” (from “Ghost Malevolent”, 2020)

21. Lamb of God – “Bloodshot Eyes” (from “Lamb of God”, 2020)

22. Vorbid – “Invention Intervention” (from “Mind”, 2018)

23. Assassin – “The Swamp Thing” (from “Bestia immundis”, 2020)

24. Cyanide Grenade – “Judgement Day” (from “Kind of Virus”, 2020)

25. Exorcizphobia – “Stuck Between Realities” (from “Friend of Lunacy”, 2021)

Well, it was going really well up to Overkill's The One, but after that it went a bit Pete Tong for me. I'm not a big fan of groove metal and most things that sound like Pantera get up my nose, so there were a few tracks in the middle section that didn't do it for me - Lazarus A.D., Mnemic and, unsurprisingly, Babymetal didn't impress (although I resisted the temptation to FF which was quite an effort with a couple of them). Zimmers Hole's “When You Were Shouting at the Devil…We Were in League with Satan” did make me raise a chuckle though and is an absolutely brilliant title.

Things got back on track with Autoneosis and although I wasn't a massive fan of the album, here on the playlist it works. The one-two punch of Deviated Instinct and Hellshock was a playlist highlight for me and though I wasn't massively taken with the Feared track, the three closers gave the playlist a terrific, powerful climax.

I must admit, I'm starting to wonder of The Pit still holds the attraction for me that it used to. However, I just can't imagine giving up the clan that holds Reign In Blood, Master of Puppets, Among the Living and so many other albums that were fundamental to the expansion of my metal taste in the eighties. Just have to take the rough with the smooth I suppose. Anyway, great work Vinny and I did hear some stuff I need to look into further - Slaughter Messiah and Hellshock in particular.

I've done my review, here's its summary:

Time for me to again give you a brief summary of what the deal was with classic metal genres transitioning in the early 90s. Most thrash metal bands at that time either left in a hurry or switched to a different style, most notably alternative or groove metal. But those bands started in the early to mid-80s, and the ones late in the game that started in the late 80s wanted to have the last bit of what was popular when the story was already moving on. Anacrusis is one of those latecomers, and they still had their great sense of technicality and unique atmosphere, unlike other late-80s-starting bands like Annihilator that fell victim to mainstream pressure too soon at that time. Screams and Whispers is a masterpiece! They really ended their initial run smoothly. It was quite an incredible surprise to me after just finding this band this week. It's a dark atmospheric swansong offering. Kenn Nardi has an impressive vocal range, ranging from aggressive shouting, almost deathly, to clean operatic singing that you can find from other thrashy progressive metal bands like Nevermore. In the pessimistic darkness of some songs, the riffing stays sharp and keeps the bleakness interesting. There's also fast pounding bass and drums that often lowers down to a slower pace. And some songs have atmospheric orchestration. The orchestration comes from the keyboards instead of an actual orchestra, so I can't really put the "early symphonic metal" stamp on it. Still it adds a whole new dimension to the sound in grace. Unlike what other bands had done that year, Anacrusis stayed firmly in thrashy progressive metal with the right amount of balance. Sadly, they disbanded right after that album, a self-sacrifice to not fall into the modern trap. However, in the early 2010s, they were back on the touring road for some time, and they even re-recorded their first two albums, then after that, other than a 2019 reunion show, they again said "That's all, folks!" But if they ever come back in the future with a new original album, sound the alarm!

5/5

With the award winners about to be announced, I thought I'd throw in my two cents by nominating the Critical Defiance album as my pick.

It seems like this is the album that has grabbed everyone's attention as far as thrash metal goes in 2022 and I know little about it or it's creator, so check it out I must. The opening track sounds so much like Planet Caravan that I'm surprised Sabbath's lawyers haven't slapped an injunction on it, so it is hardly off to a genre-defying start. The title track follows and this is much more like what I would have expected and really hits the spot, until... what the fuck is smooth jazz elevator music doing here in the middle of an ass-kicking black metal track? Oh, but things get worse my friend as that snoozy interlude is followed by a migraine-inducing neo-classical guitar solo that is less than welcome in my earphones and I'm left scratching my head as to what is going on here and whether I even have the right album on! So I checked and yes, Spotify confirms that this is the record everyone is so stoked by. I'd better stick with it then I think with a sigh, but this could be a long hour. Luckily, the title track is the most egregious, although not only, example of Autonoesis wanting to be everything all at once so the low point has been passed and it should be plain sailing from here on.

Indeed, Raise the Dead is much more up my street with it's uncomplicated blackened thrash appealing far more to my palate. There is a short exuberant solo towards the end of the track, but it falls far short of the neo-classical excesses of that exhibited during the title track. Generally speaking I did enjoy the rest of the album, when it blasts and thrashes is when it appeals to me most, although the viking-ish instrumental Valhöll did manage to capture my imagination somewhat too. The washed out shrieking vocals were pretty decent and certainly sounded effective enough. I just get the feeling that there was too much of a concerted attempt to cram as many influences into the tracks as possible, which often sounded contrived and distracted from what should have been a fucking good blast.

As I have indicated often enough before, I don't like getting into discussions over genre minutiae, but I think if, for example, Moon of Foul Magics was to become The Pit release of the year then it would sit uncomfortably with me as I think it is much more of a black metal than a thrash record, although there are undeniably thrash elements present. Overall it is an interesting enough release, not always for the right reasons and when it is good it is very good, but there is just too much inconsistency of vision which ultimately I found frustrating.

3.5/5

So with the start of a new year it's once again time to have a look at the covers for all the releases for each clan. I personally like to rate a whole stack of covers all at once, rather than doing them one at a time throughout the year, as it allows me to get a better feel for where each cover sits in comparison to others. With that in mind, I've just rated every cover for releases in The Pit in 2022.

Here are the releases that are currently competing for the prestigious 2022 The Fallen Cover of the Year Award (i.e. they have 3 or more ratings):

Destruction - Diabolical

Xentrix - Seven Words

Sonic Assault - Neon-Lit Metropolis

Protector - Excessive Outburst of Depravity

Chaos Control - Call of the Abyss

Critical Defiance - No Life Forms

Traitor - Exiled to the Surface

If you want to contribute and rate some covers, the easiest way is to go to The Gallery and select The Pit and 2022.

https://metal.academy/gallery?cid=7&type=overall_cover_rating&myRating=&fromYear=2022&toYear=2022&exclude=0

I look forward to seeing which release gets up for the win!

https://open.spotify.com/playlist/083tGvGRuasSsmN8d3Nyww?si=61491f3750004e97

01. Anthrax – “Caught in a Mosh” (from “Among the Living”, 1986) [Submitted by Vinny]

02. Impalers – “Prepare for War” (from “God From the Machine”, 2015) [Submitted by Vinny]

03. Daeva – “Clenched Fist of the Beast” (from “Pulsing Dark Absorptions”, 2022)

04. GAME OVER – “Two Steps in the Shadows” (from “Claiming Supremacy”, 2017)

05. Cavalera Conspiracy - “Spectral War” (from “Psychosis”, 2017)

06. Coroner – “Internal Conflicts” (from “Grin”, 1993)

07. Prong – “Snap Your Fingers, Snap Your Neck” (from “Cleansing”, 1994) [Submitted by Vinny]

08. Suicidal Tendencies – “How Will I Laugh Tomorrow” (from “How Will I Laugh Tomorrow, When I Can’t Even Smile Today”, 1988)

09. Stälker – “Total Annihilation” (from “Shadow of the Sword”, 2017)

10. Testament – “Absence of Light” (from “Souls of Black”, 1990) [Submitted by Vinny]

11. Hellhammer – “Revelations of Doom” (from “Apocalyptic Raids”, 1984)

12. Frosthelm – “The Endless Winter” (from “The Endless Winter”, 2015)

13. Obsolete – “Still” (from “Animate//Isolate”, 2021)

14. Acid Death – “Liquid Heaven” (from “Pieces of Mankind”, 1997)

15. Believer – “The Need for Conflict” (from “Gabriel”, 2009)

16. Critical Defiance – “Elephant” (from “No Life Forms”, 2022) [Submitted by Daniel]

17. Faith or Fear – “Straight to Hell” (from “Instruments of Death”, 2009)

18. Eruption – “Drones” (from “Cloaks of Oblivion”, 2017)

19. Oxygen Destroyer – “Cleansing the earth of Humanity’s Existence” (from “Bestial Manifestations of Malevolence and Death”, 2020) [Submitted by Vinny]

20. The Troops of Doom – “Dethroned Messiah” (from “Antichrist Reborn”, 2022)

21. Deströyer 666 – “Guillotine” (from “Never Surrender”, 2022)

22. S.O.D. – “Speak English or Die” (from “Speak English or Die”, 1995)

23. Aura Noir – “Wretched Face of Evil” (from “Black Thrash Attack”, 2011)

24. Hellbastard– “Heading for Eternal Darkness” (from “Natural Order”, 1990)

25. Terrörhammer – “Graveyard Witch” (from “Under the Unholy Command”, 2015) [Submitted by Vinny]

26. Bulldozing Bastard – “Under the Ram (from “Under the Ram” 2015)

27. Pantera – “Suicide Note, Pt. 2” (from “The Great Southern Trendkill”, 1996) [Submitted by Daniel]

28. Hatchet – “Living in Extinction” (from “Fear Beyond Lunacy”, 2015)

Between 1980 and 2003, Overkill delivered twelve full lengths, three EPs and numerous splits and videos. In a little under 25 years the band had been knocking out albums at a rate of approximately one every two years. That is a pretty consistent level of output by any measure and one that saw the band survive the lull following the eighties heyday of thrash metal by branching out into groove metal to keep the New Jersey/New York machine rolling on. Taking a wider view of the whole discography and it is even more remarkable that I can still find releases in there that I have never listened to and so being able to drop any release in by Overkill as a monthly clan feature is hopefully a voyage of discovery for all once we move away from the more infamous releases.

In my thread for this feature release I billed Kill Box 13 as a "post-groove metal" era album from Overkill. This is only half true since although thrash metal plays a part here I get much more groove metal on Kill Box 13 than I do conventional thrash metal. In fairness to Overkill, retaining that groove metal element was inevitable really. It had seen them through three or so releases and so was obviously an embedded part of their sound by this point. As I reflect on the last run through of the record I did, it is the groove metal that sticks in my mind even though the better parts for me are the actual thrash moments.

However, there are a couple of challenges with Kill Box 13 for me that consign the album to the "unlikely to revisit" pile. Firstly, it is too long at ten tracks and fifty minutes in length overall. This coupled with my second major criticism that the album is massively top heavy and almost everything after track six should have been left for a future bonus offering of previously unreleased tracks makes this album something of a damp squib for me. Accepting that the health issues in the band may play more than a part in this release being less than optimal, I still think the content lacks that consistent quality to justify a full length release and although I have not seen anything to suggest it was rushed to meet contractual requirements or the bands simple need to start touring something again, I would not be surprised if something other than artistic integrity drove some of the choices here.

2.5/5

1. Autonoesis - Moon of Foul Magics
2. Critical Defiance - No Life Forms
3. Daeva - Through Sheer Will and Black Magic...
4. Chemicide - Common Sense
5. Schizophrenia - Recollections of the Insane
6. Midnight - Let There Be Witchery 
7. Deathhammer - Electric Warfare

https://open.spotify.com/playlist/083tGvGRuasSsmN8d3Nyww?si=70f6468a240f4360

01. Midnight – “Telepathic Nightmare” (from “Let There Be Witchery”, 2022) [Submitted by Daniel]

02. Skourge – “Old Gods Return” (from “Hardcore up Your Ass”, 2021)

03. Power Trip – “Suffer No Fool” (from “Opening Fire 2008-2014”, 2018)

04. Bewitcher – “Death Returns…” (from “Cursed Be Thy Kingdom”, 2021) [Submitted by Daniel]

05. Liege Lord - “Rapture” (from “Master Control”, 1989) [Submitted by Daniel]

06. High Command – “Siege Warfare” (from “Eclipse of the Dual Moons”, 2022) [Submitted by Vinny]

07. Sodom– “M-16” (from “M-16”, 2001)

08. Flotsam & Jetsam – “Hammerhead” (from “Doomsday for the Deceiver”, 1986) [Submitted by Sonny]

09. Vexovoid – “Infinte Collector” (from “Call of the Starforger”, 2017)

10. Meliah Rage – “Crushed Beneath My Heal” (from “Idol Hands”, 2018)

11. Xentrix – “Seven Words” (from “Seven Words”, 2022) [Submitted by Vinny]

12. Rage – “Deceiver” (from “Reign of Fear”, 1986) [Submitted by Daniel]

13. Critical Defiance – “The Last Crusaders…Bringers of Death” (from “No Life Forms”, 2022) [Submitted by Sonny]

14. Bestial Invasion – “Treachery” (from “Divine Comedy:Inferno”, 2021)

15. Machine Head – “Arrows in Words from the Sky” (from “Of Kingdom and Crown”, 2022)

16. Testament – “Legions of the Dead” (from “The Gathering”, 1999) [Submitted by Sonny]

17. Schizophrenia – “Mortal Sin” (from “Voices”, 2020)

18. Agent Steel – “Mad Locust Rising” (from “Mad Locust Rising”, 1986) [Submitted by Daniel]

19. Speedwolf – “Ride With Death” (from “Ride With Death”, 2011) [Submitted by Daniel]

20. Five Finger Death Punch – “Wash It All Away” (from “Got Your Six”, 2015)

21. Death Angel – “Humanicide” (from “Humanicide”, 2019)

22. Eradicator – “Read Between the Lies” (from “Into Oblivion”, 2018)

23. Destruction – “State of Apathy” (from “Diabolical”, 2022)

24. Demolizer– “Cancer in the Brain” (from “Thrashmageddon”, 2020)

25. Thrashist Regime – “Headshot” (from “Carnival of Monsters”, 2018)

26. Stam1na – “Memento Mori (atiestin kiitos)” (from “Novus Ordo Mundi” 2021)

27. Criminal – “Self Destruction” (from “Victimized”, 1994)

28. Invicta – “Terminal Brutality” (from “Halls of Extinction”, 2019)

29. Black Viper – “Hellions of Fire” (from “Hellions of Fire”, 2018) [Submitted by Daniel]

I really enjoyed this one. It was right inside my wheelhouse. "No Life Forms" is suitably aggressive & just techy enough without seeming to be consciously so. The song structures never stay on the one thing for very long & are constantly changing. The musicianship is excellent too, particularly the bass playing which benefits from a great mix. I don't mind the typically South American vocal style either to be honest. I must say that it's great to hear some high quality thrash metal in 2022. Well done gents.

For fans of Ripper, Kreator & Slayer.

4/5

https://open.spotify.com/playlist/083tGvGRuasSsmN8d3Nyww?si=119fa600b496409d

Tracklisting:

01. Amken – “Somewhere Past the Burning Sun” (from “Passive Aggression”, 2022) [Submitted by Vinny]

02. Sodom – “Nicht mehr mein Land” (from “Genesis XIX”, 2020) [Submitted by Vinny]

03. Demoniac – “Equilibrio Fatal” (from “So It Goes”, 2020) [Submitted by Sonny]

04. F.K.Ü. – “Corpse Mania” (from “1981”, 2017) [Submitted by Vinny]

05. Ghoul - “Off With Their Heads” (from “Transmission Zero”, 2011) [Submitted by Vinny]

06. Mace – “Drilling for Brains” (from “Process of Elimination”, 1985)

07. Concrete Sox – “No Trust No Faith” (from “Whoops Sorry Vicar”, 1987)

08. Fusion Bomb – “Bird of Prey” (from “Concrete Jungle”, 2019)

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

10. Texas Hippie Coalition – “Hands Up” (from “Peacemaker”, 2012)

11. Sepultura – “We Who Are Not As Others” (from “Chaos A.D.”, 1993) [Submitted by Daniel]

12. Ektomorf – “Fury” (from “Fury”, 2018)

13. Krushhammer – “Evil Domain” (from “Blood, Violence & Blasphemy”, 2022) [Submitted by Vinny]

14. Intent – “Victims of Conquest” (from “Exile”, 2022) [Submitted by Vinny]

15. Traitor – “Total Thrash” (from “Exiled to the Surface”, 2022) [Submitted by Vinny]

16. Wraith – “Seven Serpents” (from “Faster Than The Fucking Devil”, 2020) [Submitted by Vinny]

17. Mezzrow – “Then Came the Killing” (from “Then Came the Killing”, 1990)

18. Mordred – “State of Mind” (from “Fool’s Game”, 1989)

19. Lucifuge – “Infernal Power” (from “Infernal Power”, 2021)

20. Maze of Terror – “Angels of Acid” (from “Offer to the Fucking Beasts”, 2021)

21. Killing – “Kill Everyone” (from “Face the Madness”, 2021)

22. Znöwhite – “Bringing the Hammer Down” (from “All Hail to Thee”, 1984)

23. Airwolf – “Victory Bells” (from “Victory Bells”, 1988)

24. Pessimist – “The Massacre of Nanking” (from “Call to War”, 2010)

25. Nuclear – “Eleventh Block” (from “Ten Broken Codes”, 2008) [Submitted by Sonny]

26. Dead Head – “Helhuizen” (from “Swine Plague” 2017)

27. Comaniac – “1,2 Rage” (from “Return to the Wasteland”, 2015)

28. Coroner – “Son of Lilith” (from “Mental Vortex”, 1991)

29. Vektor – “LCD (Liquid Crystal Disease” (from “Terminal Redux”, 2016)

It’s interesting that I’ve never heard a full Liege Lord record before now. I’ve certainly been aware of their highly regarded trio of 80’s albums for many years but they were hardly a household name back in my formative years & I’ve not found myself being tempted previously. I did however quite like the title track from their classic 1988 “Master Control” album when I investigated it for inclusion in the monthly The Guardians playlist a couple of years ago & have subsequently intended on giving it a decent chance ever since. What better time than now I guess!

“Master Control” kicks off in fairly hectic fashion by placing its cards down on the table right from the get-go. Although there’s a significant amount of speed metal included throughout the tracklisting & I agree with that genre being awarded a dual role, the US power metal tag is the most accurate label for this record given the chunky guitar tone, the up-tempo feel of a lot of the material & the operatic higher-register vocal performance of Joe Comeau. You can expect to identify hints at heavy metal & genuine thrash popping up here & there but neither are consistent enough to command further representation.

Comeau is a dead-ringer for Iron Maiden/Samson front man Bruce Dickinson. In fact, his likeness is really pretty uncanny & it’s very clear that he’s worshipped at the Maiden altar for many a year. He does sound a touch like Overkill front man Bobby Ellsworth’s more Maiden-inspired mid-80’s moments sometimes too though, particularly in his phrasing when the music gets a little more thrashy. The production is a touch inconsistent from track to track but the performances are very precise & the execution is pure class with the fantastic guitar solos being an obvious highlight.

The A side is very consistent indeed with no weaker tracks but the B side is a little more hit & miss. Both of my album highlights come in the second half of the album though in the Judas Priest inspired heavy metal anthem “Feel The Blade” & the thrashier US power metal of “Rapture”. Unfortunately these strengths are offset by a couple of duds in “Broken Wasteland” & “Suspicion” which tend to even out my feelings a bit after cancelling out the good impression left by those two highlight tracks. The lack of a couple of truly elite level pieces definitely places a cap on the appeal that “Master Control” has the power to muster but this isn’t a bad US power metal record. It’s just not really the classic that it’s so often made out to be these days in my opinion.

For fans of Helstar, Savage Grace & Agent Steel.

3.5/5

https://open.spotify.com/playlist/083tGvGRuasSsmN8d3Nyww?si=f0acb59bcf904f81

01. Exhorder – “Slaughter in the Vatican” (from “Slaughter in the Vatican”, 1990)

02. Machine Head – “Now I Lay Thee Down” (from “The Blackening”, 2007) [Submitted by Daniel]

03. Protector – “Perpetual Blood Oath” (from “Excessive Outburst of Depravity”, 2022) [Submitted by Vinny]

04. Fugitive – “Hell’s Half Acre” (from “Maniac”, 1996) [Submitted by Vinny]

05. Unholy Night - “Infected with Mayhem” (from “Succubus”, 2020)

06. Paranoic – “Devil’s Door” (from “Morbid Psycho”, 2022) [Submitted by Vinny]

07. Sodom – “1982” (from “1982”, 2022) [Submitted by Vinny]

08. Toxik – “World Circus” (from “World Circus”, 1987) [Submitted by Sonny]

09. Exciter – “Violence & Force” (from “Violence & Force”, 1984)

10. Tornadic – “The Capturing” (from “Awakening”, 2022) [Submitted by Vinny]

11. Slayer – “Live Undead” (from “South of Heaven”, 1988) [Submitted by Sonny]

12. Amebix – “Spoils of Victory” (from “Arise !”, 1985) [Submitted by Daniel]

13. Bulldozer – “Never Relax” (from “The Final Separation”, 1986) [Submitted by Sonny]

14. Blitz – “Nachtmahr” (from “The Nachtmahr Sessions”, 2021)

15. Evil Army – “Evil Army” (from “Evil Army”, 2006)

16. Uncle Slam – “Executioner” (from “Say Uncle”, 1988)

17. Legion of the Damned – “The Widow’s Breed” (from “Slaves of the Shadow Realm”, 2019) [Submitted by Sonny]

18. Three Dead Fingers – “Into the Bloodbath” (from “Breed of the Devil”, 2021) [Submitted by Vinny]

19. Malevolence – “On Broken Glass” (from “Malicious Intent”, 2022)

20. Pantera– “Strength Beyond Strength” (from “Far Beyond Driven”, 1994) [Submitted by Daniel]

21. Sore Throat – “Phase II” (from “Inde$troy”, 1989) [Submitted by Daniel]

22. Slaughter – “Incinerator” (from “Nocturnal Hell/Surrender or Die”, 2016)

23. Laaz Rockit – “Last Breath” (from “Know Your Enemy”, 1987) [Submitted by Sonny]

24. Forbidden – “Twisted Into Form” (from “Twisted Into Form”, 1990)

25. Gothic Slam – “Who Died And Made You God” (from “Just A Face in the Crowd” 1989)

26. Scythelord – “Toxic Minds” (from “Toxic Minds”, 2016) [Submitted by Vinny]

27. Axegrinder – “Rise of the Serpent Men” (from “Rise of the Serpent Men”, 1989) [Submitted by Daniel]

28. Alarum – “In Spiral” (from “Circle’s End”, 2020)

Some albums most definitely fit into a sub-genre yet at the same time manage to express an alienation to the core sound that seems to make them seem like they do not really fit at all. I cannot think of a better example of this than Dream Death’s debut release. It most certainly has thrash elements but at the same time has a real slant on doom metal. Often listening to it like you are listening to two different bands or a band that is so torn with its influences that half want to do thrash and the other half want to do doom.

It makes for an interesting album in some regards but overall, you cannot get away from the fact that Journey Into Mystery suffers from a lack of direction. The songwriting is not particularly stellar either to boot and so there is a real sense of conflicting purposes over the eight tracks. It is not that any one element is particularly awful, more that no singular piece gets chance at a full exploration or development to its full potential. Personally (even with my fledgling doom metal ears) these guys are a better doom band than they are a thrash band. In fact, on certain tracks (The Elder Race for example) there are no thrash metal elements to my ears. Indeed, post this record saw the departure of bassist Ted Williams and the remainder of the band elected to change their name to Penance and become a doom band.

As far as I can hear, their hearts were never really into thrash at all and all Journey Into Mystery did was prove this lack of conviction made the music suffer. I hear a lot of Trouble in those riffs and at times I struggle with the vocals as I do with Trouble’s debut. The vocals here are so clumsy at times that I find myself cringing. Lines get rushed through often leaving the odd word iterated in isolation and completely out of context. Accepting that this is a debut album, the vocalist is far too forward in the mix and sounds like he is deliberately shouting over everything else which just comes off as amateurish and juvenile.

Whether it simply their own version of uptempo doom or genuine attempts into thrash metal, Dream Death are all over the place here and it really does destroy any sense of flow. The best track on here is the heavily Celtic Frost influenced Hear My Screams, it deploys a consistency (barring that awful, snatchy solo) that the rest of the album is sadly lacking. Maybe back in 1987 this would have more props but come 2022 it certainly has not aged well.

2.5/5

https://open.spotify.com/playlist/083tGvGRuasSsmN8d3Nyww?si=4f8bcfafe01743d4

01. DevilDriver – “Clouds Over California” (from “The Last Kind Words”, 2007)

02. Mason – “Imprisoned” (from “Warhead”, 2013)

03. Pantera – “Message In Blood” (from “Cowboys From Hell”, 1990) [Submitted by Daniel]

04. Sepultura – “Cut-Throat” (from “Roots”, 1996) [Submitted by Daniel]

05. Skeleton Pit “Drink Fast Or Die” (from “Chaos At The Mosh-Reactor”, 2015) [Submitted by Vinny]

06. Mindtaker – “Drink Beer For Thrash” (from “Toxic War”, 2020) [Submitted by Vinny]

07. Bonded By Blood – “Immortal Life” (from “Feed the Beast”, 2008)

08. Thrashback – “Night of the Sacrifice” (from “Night of the Sacrifice”, 2015)

09. Piledriver – “Sex With Satan” (from “Metal Inquisition”, 1984)

10. Gallower – “Claws and Fangs” (from “Eastern Witchcraft”, 2022)

11. Parkcrest– “Midnight Chasm” (from “And That Blood Will Turn To Red”, 2019) [Submitted by Daniel]

12. Pripjat – “Nuclear Chainsaw” (from “Sons of Tschernobyl”, 2014)

13. Satyrasis – “A Sheep In Wolves Clothing” (from “Creation of Failure”, 2008)

14. Skulled – “Eat Thrash” (from “Eat Thrash”, 2017) [Submitted by Vinny]

15. Plague Years – “Suffer” (from “All Will Suffer”, 2022)

16. Enemynside – “Devil In Disguise” (from “Dead Nation Army”, 2018)

17. Chronosphere – “Brutal Decay” (from “Embracing Oblivion”, 2014)

18. Hatriot – “Horns & Halos” (from “The Vale of Shadows”, 2022)

19. Tumourboy– “Chernobyl Devastation” (from “Damaged System”, 2016) [Submitted by Vinny]

20. Surra – “Daqui Pra Pior” (from “Tamo Muito Na Merda”, 2016)

21. Grindpad – “Sharkbite!” (from “Sharkbite”, 2017)

22. The Accüsed – “Pounding Nails (Into the Lid of Your Coffin)” (from “Grinning Like An Undertaker”, 1990)

23. Battlecreek – “Dealing Death” (from “Hate Injection”, 2015)

24. Amken– “Shattered Sanity” (from “Theatre of the Absurd” 2017)

25. Impalers – “Prepare for War” (from “Prepare for War - EP”, 2014)

26. Excruciator – “Destruction” (from “Devouring”, 2011)

27. Toxic Waltz – “Deify” (from “From A Distant View”, 2016)

28. Raider – “Urge To Kill” (from “Urge To Kill”, 2018) [Submitted by Vinny]

29. Phantom Witch – “Death As We Know It” (from, “Death As We Know It”, 2019)

30. Blind Illusion – “Blood Shower” (from “The Sane Asylum”, 1988)

31. Thought Industry – “Third Eye” (from “Songs for Insects”, 1992)

The Blackening is one of those albums that I have fond memories of blasting "Beautiful Mourning", "Aesthetics Of Hate" and "Halo" back in the day, but I can never find it in myself to return to this album years later. Perhaps it is the downward spiral that has been Rob Flynn for the better part of the last five/six years and his absolute butchering of Machine Head over that timeframe, or maybe it's my continued distancing from thrash metal over the years. 

That really should not be a problem since this record leans far more heavily towards groove metal than anything else. I mean, "Aesthetics Of Hate" is a song literally about some deadbeat writer who pissed on the grave of Dimebag Darrell. And there are (fleeting) moments where Machine Head pull out the stops and do a solid Pantera impression. The independence between the dueling guitars and the bass is splendid, the soloing occasionally pulls out some of the Dimebag tropes, and Flynn pulls off the sing/scream better than Anselmo could on later Pantera albums like The Great Southern Trendkill, Reinventing The Steel and even those later Down albums. But it is a flawed album where the band cannot keep the same intensity in the melodies from the first half to the second. The last three songs all being at least nine minutes is tiring and can get quite boring by the end. But those first four tracks are bops and make for a great addition to anyone's top list of 2000's thrashers.

7/10

https://open.spotify.com/playlist/083tGvGRuasSsmN8d3Nyww?si=b6a848597f18401e

01. Black Viper – “Hellions of Fire” (from “Hellions of Fire”, 2018)

02. Kreator – “Strongest of the Strong” (from “Hate Uber Allies”, 2022) [Submitted by Vinny]

03. Death Angel – “Voracious Souls” (from “The Ultra-Violence”, 1987) [Submitted by Sonny]

04. The Crown – “Crowned in Terror” (from “Crowned in Terror”, 2002) [Submitted by Vinny]

05. Pestilence “Systematic Instruction” (from “Malleus Maleficarum”, 1988) [Submitted by Sonny]

06. Municipal Waste – “Grave Dive” (from “Electrified Brain”, 2022) [Submitted by Vinny]

07. Crumbsuckers – “Trapped” (from “Life of Dreams”, 1986)

08. Black Fast – “The Keep” (from “Terms of Surrender”, 2015)

09. Exmortus – “Foe Hammer” (from “Slave to the Sword”, 2014)

10. Wolf Spider – “It’s Your Time” (from “V”, 2015)

11. Deathhammer – “Thrown Into the Abyss” (from “Electric Warfare”, 2022) [Submitted by Sonny]

12. Exumer – “Hostile Defiance” (from “Hostile Defiance”, 2019) [Submitted by Vinny]

13. Hallows Eve – “Plunging to Megadeath” (from “Tales of Terror”, 1985) [Submitted by Sonny]

14. Whiplash – “Walk the Plank” (from “Ticket to Mayhem”, 1987) [Submitted by Vinny]

15. Overkill – “Devil By The Tail” (from “Kill Box 13”, 2003) [Submitted by Vinny]

16. Betzefer – “The Devil Went Down to the Holy Land” (from “The Devil Went Down to the Holy Land”, 2013)

17. Byzantine – “The Agonies” (from “To Release Is to Resolve”, 2015)

18. Fog of War – “Fog of War” (from “Fog of War”, 2009)

19. Traitor– “Exiled to the Surface” (from “Exiled to the Surface”, 2022) [Submitted by Vinny]

20. Toxic Holocaust – “Nuke the Cross” (from “An Overdose of Death”, 2008) [Submitted by Sonny]

21. Battalion – “Thrash Maniacs” (from “Underdogs”, 2010)

22. Ultra-Violence – “Cadaver Decomposition Island” (from “Operation Misdirection”, 2018)

23. Attomica – “Deathraiser” (from “Disturbing the Noise”, 1991)

24. Toxik – “Power” (from “Dis Morta” 2022)

25. Witchery – “Witching Hour” (from “Witching Hour”, 2022) [Submitted by Sonny]

26. Speedtrap – “No Glory Found” (from “Straight Shooter”, 2015)

27. Heathen – “Death by Hanging” (from “Breaking the Silence”, 1987)

When I find the time, I am going to read up on the origins of the Chilean thrash scene. Following Sonny’s sharing of not just this month’s feature release but various recommendations throughout the site, it is clear that this is a scene that needs further investigation. Although, any cursory listen to Parkcrest straight away shows the influences that permeate the sound with Sepultura, Kreator and many other classic thrash bands prevalent here.

I do find the vocals to be the least appetising element of most of what goes on here though. Although I would not describe Javier Salgado as a poor vocalist by any means, I would go as far as to say he is one of limited capacity and the record shows this. It is fair to say that he is carried somewhat by the guitars (which of course he plays alongside Diego) with those textbook loops and bloops doing a fine job. Overall though it is the sheer intensity of what Parkcrest deliver that is most impressive to my ears. Setting a solid foundation early on the band build and build with each passing track and they certainly do have a penchant for song writing that can only get better with time.

The album does run out of legs I find though as we get near the finish line and I am not sure if this is just fatigue due to the sheer quantity of material that they throw into the track listing here. There is a lot going on during this album and absolutely all of it deserves your attention, however it does feel like the old shearing scissors got left in the draw too much as some tracks could do with a trim. For example, the middle section of the record that contains largely shorter tracks, not all of these are in the same league in terms of quality and I think we could easily cut one of these out and move the seven minute track that heralds the start of the final third of the album into a more appropriate position.

Arrangement gripes aside, Parkcrest have delivered a fine sophomore release here on which they are able to display a range of styles and technical ability without becoming boring. It is good to see a young band capable of delivering the riffs and yet keeping things interesting at the same time. I will certainly keep an out for Parkcrest in the future.

4/5

Overall an enjoyable listen, although I personally struggled with the tech-thrash trio after Pantera (although following them with that Voivod track was genius as all was then forgiven!). The rest was pretty kick-ass and Sick Boogie Murder deserves special mention for being so fucking off-the-wall. Nice job, Vinny.

This may be the first playlist that features a track from each of the big four and their contributions show why they are so-called - Slayer and Metallica both turning in genre-defining contributions. There's a few other big names too - Sodom, Sepultura and Possessed are all represented by kick-ass tracks too. Revelation of the list though must go to the final track from Terminalist - absolutely loved this one. All around, another damn fine list Vinny - thanks a lot.

I can vividly remember my first encounter with Japanese blackened thrash legends Sabbat’s fifth & most ambitious album to the time. I’d been aware of Sabbat through the tape trading scene for some time but can’t say that I’d ever really bought into their largely cult following. They’d created a real buzz around the underground due to their undoubted First Wave of Black Metal street credibility however I can’t say that I was ever comfortable that their package could justify comparisons with the elite exponents of extreme metal at a time when that scene was at its peak. By 1996 though that scene was starting to descend from its position of prominence & perhaps that’s why Sabbat felt the need to throw the rule book out the window & produce something truly remarkable with a single hour-long piece that contains so many disparate ideas that you may find your head spinning after a while.

Sometimes music can be just a bit of simple fun that you don’t have to put too much investment in to & at others it can be a genuinely fascinating piece of art whose aim is to change a person & not just in positive ways. It can attempt to get inside your head & mess with the connections, taking you to weird & wonderful places you never imagined, some of them so foreign & surreal that you feel a level of discomfort. Well, “The Dwelling” certainly falls into the latter category as it’s never happy to sit on its laurels & wants to be everything at once, even though that approach definitely comes at a cost. You see, love it or hate it, to describe this record as blackened thrash is doing it a disservice in my opinion. There’s no question that it’s driven by a strong First Wave of Black Metal pedigree but it’s also incredibly expansive & ambitious, far more than Sabbat were capable of at the time in all honesty. Personally, I hear very little genuine thrash metal here with the majority of the thrashier parts sitting more comfortably under the early black metal banner than the thrash one. There’s definitely a classic heavy metal influence to this record that sees it veering much closer to speed metal with a number of parts reminding me of the blackened version of speed metal we heard on the first Bathory record with a punkier Motorhead/Venom feel to quite a few of the faster riffs & much less of the rhythmic precision & complexity we’ve come to expect from thrash. Then you have the extended lead guitar excursions & the just plain outrageously weird progressive rock experimentation which have been pulled straight out of a 70’s prog rock playbook & these are significant enough to command the progressive metal tag in my opinion. Those long guitar solo sections absolutely reek of Mercyful Fate worship only Sabbat are nowhere near as capable at their craft so they end of coming off as very loose & a little amateurish too at times.

The vocal delivery takes a number of directions. I really enjoy the Quorthon-esque black metal approach that sees the words spat out with evil intent. I can’t say that the high-pitched attempts at King Diamond worship get anywhere the mark they’re aiming for though & they end up becoming pretty annoying. The bass guitar work has some very interesting moments when it decides to run off on its own & tell a different story to the other two band members. Unfortunately though, I find a lot of “The Dwelling” to sound too raw & loose in its execution. That may be fine for your average underground extreme metal release but this one is trying for something far more sophisticated & the band simply aren’t anywhere near capable of pulling it all together. It sounds completely improvised a lot of the time but then you’ll see them go into some extravagant changes as a unit & you realise that it can’t be, at least not entirely. There are timing issues across the board, perhaps not major ones but enough to keep me wondering if they’re about to completely drop the ball & have to start again.

For all its failings, “The Dwelling” is a really interesting release. It’s just not all that enjoyable for me personally as I struggle with many of its quirks. It sounds like a few dudes got really drunk, took a mushroom each, pressed record & jammed away for an hour to see what came of it. I admit that idea does sound kinda cool in theory but the reality sees me failing to connect with a lot of it & wanting more professionalism in the execution. Now if anyone goes into a Sabbat record wanting professionalism then they’re clearly barking up the wrong tree which is why I’ve always found myself at odds with “The Dwelling” because I clearly want it to be something that was never going to be. I suspect that some of our other regulars may not fall into that same trap though which is why I picked it for this month’s feature release as I look forward to hearing some different views on this intriguing & unique example of progressive black/speed metal.

For fans of Nifelheim, Abigail & early Bathory.

3/5

Far from being regular in appearing on my thrash metal rotation, Every Nerve Alive is one of those albums that whilst I recognise the functional quality of, I find very little in the way of need to revisit it.  There is much to enjoy on this the bands sophomore release as they hack their way through eleven tracks of rampant thrash metal.  Capturing the very essence of thrash metal throughout this record is an absolute joy to listen to whilst it is on.  This sounds like a dumb statement I know, however I feel this is relevant as to why I rarely revisit the album.  I put it on the other week for the first time in a while and was instantly caught up in how aggressive and utterly relentless it was, how it did not necessarily do anything new and simply did an established blueprint really well.  However, unlike Slayer or Kreator, as soon as the record was done, it was gone from the memory banks more or less instantly.  A right romp it may be for forty-three minutes but its longevity is really short and is the kind of album that I can only enjoy in the moment as it leaves no distinct aftertaste that makes me savour any of the content beyond the duration of the meal.  There may well be a period of me patting my stomach after this meal but certainly zero recollection of why it was so good until I go back and order the same thing again.  For this reason I am knocking my score down to a 3.5/5 from the 4 I previously applied to it.

The wife was out of the house this afternoon so I took the opportunity to smash the latest The Pit playlist out really loud while cleaning the house & playing with the kids. I really enjoyed it too just quietly. The classics at the start set the scene very nicely & as I progressed through the set I found myself jumpin' around to bands like Thrasherwolf, Vio-lence, Demoniac, Kreator, Eradicator, Cryptosis, Expander, Ektomorf & particularly the new one from Sadistic Ritual which I didn't know was out & was probably the find of the set for me personally.

Despite my long-established love of thrash metal and my affection for punk, I have never really been much of a fan of crossover thrash, not helped by early exposure to SOD and their fucking awful Speak English or Die. I have probably only heard about twenty or thirty crossover albums and have rated very, very few above average. Even DRI's own Thrash Zone didn't really register too highly on my cool-shitometer. Well, finally it has come to pass that I have found a crossover album that strikes a chord with me and that I can actually get more out of than a simple shrug of the shoulders. The album takes the hardcore sensibilities of an album like Suicidal Tendencies self-titled debut (that ST themselves never even got close to bettering) and, using awesome-sounding thrash riffs, forges a frenetic, heavy-as-hell, spit-in-the-eye, fuck-you of an album. I mean, the guitar sound here is phenomenally powerful and is what really sets this apart from most other crossover albums I've heard. This is exactly the sort of album that makes me forget my knees are fucked and makes me want to mosh my ass off round the living room - I don't know about feeling like a teenager again, shit, I'll settle for thirty!!

If I had much of a criticism then I think they should have trimmed ten minutes off it - it should be illegal for crossover albums to be over 35 minutes long. Oh, and the CD had one of those fucking irritating hidden tracks on it that you had to wait twenty minutes to get to.

4/5

Listened to The Pit playlist this afternoon whilst laying patio slabs in the garden and a damn fine list it is too. Nice work Vinny, really enjoyed it, the first half in particular which just piled great track on great track. In truth, there wasn't a single track I could honestly say I didn't enjoy to one extent or another. There's not much more you can ask for in a two-hour playlist really.

I listened to this whilst out with the dog this month so I didn't have a tracklisting to hand whilst it was playing. It started off a bit slowly for me, unless it was the presence of Seek & Destroy early in the list laying waste to the tracks around it. It still grieves me greatly to recall what happened to Metallica when listening to their early stuff and how they completely shat on their own legacy. Anyway, it took Kreator to really shake me out of my reverie and from then on things really went up a gear. Old favourites like Venom, Sadus, Holy Terror and Hallows Eve interspersed with some less familiar ass-kickers like Dekapitator, At War and Cryptic Shift hit the spot.

The couple of groove metal tracks from Alien Weaponry and Biohazard didn't do too much for me unfortunately. Then we have a couple of bands I've only heard about and never bothered with as I didn't think they were that serious. Austrian Death Machine's Get to the Choppa is actually pretty good though and not at all what I expected (when will I learn?) I remember seeing Lawnmower Deth everywhere at one point in the eighties (here in England anyway) but thought that they sounded a bit silly - and so they are, although this is actually quite a fun track I don't know if I could take a full album or if it would rub me up the wrong way like M.O.D.

Things then get real and we have a pretty solid run to the end. I've never heard or heard of Détente before, but I quite dug the punk/thrash vibe they exhibited here. Of course we end with a classic Slayer track, which has my second favourite Slayer intro (Raining Blood being #1).

Whilst no expert producer, nor a skilled musician myself there are two things likely to kill my enjoyment of an album in an instant. Poor production has its place in extreme music as we all know but clumsy and plain amateur efforts have no place anywhere (it’s not the eighties anymore folks) and Hellfekted (more on that later) just simply have no idea what they are doing with production. Horribly compressed to the point of it sounding like everything is being played through thick material, Woe to the Kingdom of Blood is over-burdened with a terrible production job from the second that promising intro stops.

Their sound is not that raw to justify them being able to get away with this and I hear little blackened style here beyond the vocals in all honesty. With clearly a limited repertoire of musical ideas and skills, Hellfekted become exposed very quickly with no sheen being to be applied to at least attempt to mirror their sloppy playing and predictable direction. Flitting between thrash metal and the occasional burst of NWOBHM the band seem to lurch around for the whole of the eight tracks on show. The bass which sits at the front most of the time soon loses its appeal and becomes grating and the horrible thocking of the drums just makes me want to claw my ear drums out.

Vocally there is not much to write home about either. The scathing attack soon becomes blunted along with everything else and as perhaps the most unaffected element in terms of that production job they really should carry this album a lot better than they do. I cannot help but feel that Hellfekted are just not ready for a full-length release yet and that they would be far better off sticking to an EP format, or even a split for the time being.

The band name is just nonsense and highlights the clear immaturity in the band. That artwork just contributes to this notion that the band are simply stretching themselves far beyond their capabilities and for a debut album they have probably done everything they should not have. Props for putting your own release out but I would suggest a lot more rehearsing and a lot of time on the road would help no ends here.

2.5/5

Yet another quality Pit playlist this month. Plenty of classics to enjoy, but I particularly enjoyed the run of tracks from the new Vio-lence to the Hostility track - some lesser known stuff that seriously kicks ass. I can honestly say there wasn't a single track that I disliked. Shout out to the Iron Reagen track - not heard it before and it's the best I've heard from the band yet. Well done Vinny!

Released in 1994, Allegiance's debut was a bit late to the thrash metal party. By then the binmen were carting the empty bottles away and cleaners were mopping the pools of puke up from the moshpit floor. There was an explosion of exciting and blasphemous new shit coming from the icy wastes of Scandinavia and doom was spreading over the world. To release a debut of pretty standard sounding, albeit fairly well done, Bay Area worship at this point in time meant that Allegiance were never likely to make much of a splash beyond their own shores and prove the old adage that "timing is everything".

The album's temporal misfortunes aside, it is very well done and all involved are impressively competent musicians. The vocalist, for the most part, seems to utilise the intonations of Hetfield and Chuck Billy for that authentic Bay Area sound and the rhythm section is solid. It is the guitar work that makes this worth listening to however with some cool riffing and impressively executed guitar leads.

On the downside there are of course the sparsely used, but ridiculously out-of-place death growls which I'm surprised they stuck with because they sound so jarring in this context. Furthermore, I'm sorry to say that the songwriting didn't exactly overwhelm me either. Although each track is well perforrmed and is inherently fine, I didn't feel as if anything jumped out and grabbed me by the throat and at album's end I struggled to recall anything truly killer.

If it had been released six or seven years earlier it may have been able to stand proudly alongside second-rung stuff like Exodus, but even the titans of thrash were disintegrating into mediocrity or reaching beyond the genre's borders at this point in time, so D.e.s.t.i.t.u.t.i.o.n was always destined for relative obscurity it seems. I would love to be able to claim it is some kind of undiscovered and ill-ignored gem, but in truth I found it to be well-executed but unexceptional Bay Area worship that would struggle to find much purchase outside that scene's most ardent devotees.

3.5/5

Yeah, the nostalgic edge to Nekromantheon's sound harks back to Morbid Saint, Dark Angel, (early) Slayer and there is also a hint of Possessed also.  It is an album that makes no apologies for wearing it's influences on its sleeves.  Cryptosis deserve some credit for essentially reinventing themselves (not technically a debut Xeph, they have been around since 2013 as Distillator - a much less progressive guise) and nailing it first time.  

Nekromantheon is the clear winner for me, as good as Enforced and Cryptosis were last year it is Nekromantheon who edge it.  Didn't get the hype around Steel Bearing Hand in all honesty and haven't heard Evil in fairness.  Might get round to it at the weekend.

It's been fun to return to this record after so many years. I still really enjoy it too. It's not a perfect thrash album as it has its flaws but its very hard to deny the youthful electricity on display. It's very obvious that Sadus decided to make it their own personal mission to outdo "Reign In Blood" & "Darkness Descends" in the speed department as they really throw the kitchen sink at it. The consistently high velocity makes the short run time pretty much essential & ensures that I don't get bored. The execution & production are a little inconsistent & lack the polish of the tier ones. Although Steve DiGiorgio's bass playing is a real highlight of the Sadus sound, I have to say that he doesn't sit all that well in the mix here. He's too far forward in my opinion. I do love Darren Travis' psychotic vocals though. Boy he can spit out some words in quick succession & the Slayer-esque guitar solos take some of these songs to another level of extremity. I think the main appeal of a record like "Illusions" is that it just sums up the era so beautifully, a time that I was going through the most exciting period of musical discovery in my lifetime & one that I'll always treasure.

4/5

I already own it Andi, thanks.  Just never got around to rating or reviewing on here yet.

With Daniel and Sonny again doing a sterling job with their selections this month, putting together the playlist was again really enjoyable.  I got a feel for some more blackened themes running through the list this month with the inclusion of Ketzer, Eternal Evil, Craven Idol and Sabbat all falling into their places as I built the list for the month.  Controversially perhaps, I hear very little thrash in that Craven Idol track and having listened through the album again I would say it leans more towards black / heavy metal but still a great track regardless so was happy to keep in the list.

I am still struggling to place the groove metal stuff but as my knowledge (if not necessarily my taste) for this stuff grows I expect that will become easier.  Highlight of the month for me is being able to tee-up Sadus followed by Morbid Saint as well as being reminded what a great (and sadly overlooked by myself) album The Gathering is. 

Pretty solid playlist this month. Some nice discoveries - I really dug the Scarecrow track, Korzus, High Command and Mortal Vision were great too. Obviously it's always good to hear the classics: Demolition Hammer, Xentrix, Messiah, Slayer and Mutilator are always welcome. I obviously didn't like the Prong track as much as the rest of you guys and the one-two of Carnivore and Bezerker tested my patience a little. Plenty to enjoy though and a great way to spend a couple of hours - nice one Vinny!

Unstoppable Power is definitely more than solid and is above every other random, average Thrash record in every way. The energy and aggression is there, the vocals are more passionate than most, the bass lines are great, and the riff progressions and transitions on tracks like "Chained Victims" are fantastic. In terms of the older-school, messier production, my only complaint is that the cymbals sound extremely blown out to the point where I wasn't enjoying it, but I could get through it most of the time. I can see how this would be a deep cut hit for massive Thrash fans, but I fall on the same side as Saxy in that this is kind of just another Thrash album for me, even though I'll give it more praise overall. While it's extremely consistent in quality, none of the songs really jumped out at me other than "Chained Victims", leaving Unstoppable Power as a nice experience that probably isn't going to stick with me. 

It's starting to become pretty apparent why I tend to lean towards Thrash Metal hybrids like Tech Thrash or Thrashy Death Metal, since a pristine old school Thrash package leaves me feeling like something is missing.

3.5/5

Unfortunately this little beauty was laid to rest this week after I wore through the fabric to such an extent that it became embarrassing to wear. It's done some hard yards & seen some amazing things over the years & I'll definitely miss it. It's been very much a comfort wear in recent years.

Exumer are one of the lesser lights of the Teutonic Thrash scene behind Kreator, Sodom and Destruction, releasing a couple of classic albums before originally splitting in 1991 of which Rising from the Sea is my favourite. Their sound is typical of 1980's German thrash and Exumer do a great job of harnessing the requisite aggression and intensity that is the hallmark of the Big Three Teutonic giants. They are obviously  heavily influenced by Slayer, bassist / vocalist Paul Arakari in particular doing a more than passable impression of Tom Araya - Decimation sounding incredibly like Jesus Saves from Reign in Blood for example. There is a kind of polished rawness to the album, it actually sounds better than you imagine it does, this being no demo-quality lo-fi grasp for kvlt kudos, but it has pretty decent production values (although saying that I am most familiar with the 2001 re-release so it may have been polished up from the original version).

This isn't a perfect album and the band certainly have limitations, but they write fantastic riffs have a palpable energy and dynamism and, for me, encapsulate a lot of what was best about 1980's thrash. This is no-bullshit, heads-down, neck-wrenching metal from the days when every album didn't have to make a statement or re-invent the wheel, but it was sufficient for it to be merely a great record for headbanging along to (how I miss them!)
4.5/5

As for Death Angel, I still love their debut, but can't get on with any of their other releases at all.

I've always liked "The Ultra-Violence" but I can't deny my feeling that it's a flawed & overrated release, particularly vocally. To my ears "Act III" is the band's peak as it saw them ironing out all of the kinks & producing a well thought-out & mature metal record that may not be all that thrashy but makes up for it with quality song-writing & execution. Death Angel's 2000's material is worth a look but I wouldn't say it's essential while their 1988 sophomore album "Frolic Through the Park" is an absolute abomination.

Flawed it may be but when the band hit the sweet spot, man they thrash like a muthafucker. As for being overrated? I personally don't think an album that contains a song like Voracious Souls can ever be deemed overrated!

Kreator have always seemed like the European Slayer to me. Now don't misunderstand, I'm not accusing them of plagiarism or anything, what I mean is the fan's perceptions of the two are very similar. To a degree, both have accumulated enough credibility and respect to almost be above criticism. Even though we all know that both bands did their best work in the 80s and early 90s, even their less well-received works of the later nineties have their advocates and neither band suffered the critical mauling that most other "big name" thrash bands endured for their later work. Personally, I think Kreator's twenty-first century output is superior to Slayer's with Enemy of God and Hordes of Chaos being a couple of my favourite thrash albums.

That said, their run of albums from Pleasure to Kill up to Coma of Souls is thrash metal legend and third in the run was Extreme Aggression. I can't really add any more than has already been said, but this is certainly an aptly-titled album and is obviously the output of a band firing on all barrels as they refined the early aggressiveness of Pleasure to Kill into an even more lethal weapon. A band like Kreator doesn't achieve the level of respect they have by accident, this is a band who have earned every drop and Extreme Aggression is one of the reasons why.

https://open.spotify.com/playlist/083tGvGRuasSsmN8d3Nyww?si=74da3eaa87e5464b

Tracklisting:

01. Evile – “War Of Attrition” (from “Hell Unleashed”, 2021) [Submitted by Daniel]

02. Dagoba – “Black Smokers (752 Farenheit)” (from “Poseidon”, 2010)

03. Vulture – “Gorgon” (from “Dealin’ Death”, 2021)

04. ZnöWhite – “Bringing The Hammer Down” (from “All Hail To Thee” E.P., 1984)

05. Intruder – “Cold-Blooded Killer” (from “Escape From Pain” E.P., 1990) [Submitted by Vinny]

06. Annihilator – “The Fun Palace” (from “Never, Neverland”, 1990) [Submitted by Daniel]

07. Gojira – “Another World” (from “Fortitude”, 2021)

08. Anthrax – “The Enemy” (from “Spreading The Disease”, 1985) [Submitted by Sonny]

09. Slayer – “The Antichrist” (from “Show No Mercy”, 1983) [Submitted by Vinny]

10. Rigor Mortis – “The Haunted” (from “Freaks” E.P., 1989) [Submitted by Vinny]

11. Blood Feast – “Kill For Pleasure” (from “Kill For Pleasure”, 1987) [Submitted by Vinny]

12. Corrosion Of Conformity – “Consumed” (from “Animosity”, 1985) [Submitted by Vinny]

13. Forbidden – “Twisted Into Form” (from “Twisted Into Form”, 1990)

14. Powermad – “Terminator” (from “The Madness Begins…” E.P., 1988) [Submitted by Vinny]

15. Demolition Hammer – “Under The Table” (from “Time Bomb”, 1994)

16. Acid Drinkers – “Superstitious Motherfucker” (from “Broken Head”, 2000)

17. Sepultura – “Mask” (from “Sepulquarta”, 2021)

18. Paradox – “Collision Course” (from “Collision Course”, 2000)

19. Iron Reagan – “Miserable Failure” (from “The Tyranny Of Will”, 2014)

20. Artillery – “The Devil’s Symphony” (from “X”, 2021)

21. Flotsam & Jetsam – “The Wicked Hour” (from “Blood In The Water”, 2021)

22. Violator – “Futurephobia” (from “Annihilation Process”, 2010)

23. Cryptic Slaughter – “Hypocrite” (from “Convicted”, 1986) [Submitted by Vinny]

24. Obsolete – “Still” (from “Animate//Isolate”, 2021)

25. Lich King – “Act Of War” (from “World Gone Dead”, 2010)

26. Scythelord – “Equanimity” (from “Earth Boiling Dystopia”, 2021) [Submitted by Daniel]

27. The Crown – “Doomsday King” (from “Doomsday King”, 2010) [Submitted by Daniel]

28. Ranger – “Storm Of Power” (from “Where Evil Dwells”, 2015) [Submitted by Daniel]

29. Nekromantheon – “Dead Temples” (from “Visions Of Trismegistos”, 2021) [Submitted by Daniel]

I nearly missed this one which would have been my loss.

Canadians Infernäl Mäjesty operate in the zone of thrash metal that is rabid and putrid without necessarily dropping into blackened territory. Their debut album is a pretty fucking intense experience, even for a hardened thrash metal veteran like me. It is reminiscent of Possessed in terms of the death metal like intensity it generates, but also Slayer as a reference point for how true the thrash credentials are at the same time.

The album suffers an oddity in terms of structure early on with an instrumental track immediately after the opening song. This loses a lot of momentum from the album in all honesty and despite the big build up that goes on during track 3, Night of the Living Dead puts things back on course more from an atmosphere perspective as opposed to reasserting the intensity levels immediately. This is a strange choice of running order - even though it is obvious to see the link with the instrumental as an intro to the horror themed track mentioned above - and one that overall I do not think the record recovers from overall. The feeling of things being a little disjointed thereafter is not entirely shook off at any point, despite the obvious distraction of the thunderous racket that occupies most of the album.

This does not make None Shall Defy a bad album by any means. It is clearly made by a group of young people with all the morbid fascinations of horror, comics and serial killers that you would perhaps expect from the stereotype of thrash metal bands at the time. These dark curiosities transpose well into song writing content and provide the necessary dank sound to the frantic tempos as a reminder that whatever we are racing through there is something vile not too far away, permeating the air with its corrosive odour.

At times it does feel like a much slower version of Slayer as opposed to others where they seem to match the mad thrashing intensity of the aforementioned stars of the genre. Vocalist Chris Bailey does remind me of Tom Araya a lot, and the looping sonics of Steve Terror (yep, I know!) and Kenny Hallman are certainly not a football field away from Hanneman and King. I don't think drummer Rick Nemes quite matches Lombardo in the skill stakes but he still does a great job of bashing his way through the record.

Terrible artwork aside, None Shall Defy is a great old-school thrash metal record that is probably criminally overlooked by most fans of the genre.

4/5

A mix of the good the bad and the ugly for me on this month's playlist:

01. Evile – “Incarcerated” (from “Hell Unleashed”, 2021)
4/5 It is surprising to see how often this album has featured in the playlists as the consensus seems to be that it is very ordinary. This is probably it's best track however.

02. Soulfly – “Seek ‘n’ Strike (from “ॐ”, 2002) [Submitted by Daniel]
2.5/5 I have never been able to take to Soulfly and this is no exception.

03. ZnöWhite – “Do Or Die” (from “All Hail To Thee” E.P., 1984) [Submitted by Daniel]
3/5 I really liked the music but those vocals are fucking horrible.

04. Body Count – “KKK Bitch” (from “Body Count”, 1992)
3.5/5 I like Ice T so muthafuck her dear old dad!

05. Prong – “Beg To Differ” (from “Beg To Differ”, 1990)
3/5 The only other Prong song I know is Cleansing. This is OK but sounds dated.

06. Vulture – “Star-Crossed City” (from “Dealin’ Death”, 2021)
4/5 Really enjoyed this speedy mutha.

07. Artillery – “Turn Up The Rage” (from “X”, 2021)
3.5/5 Pretty good speedy thrash from canadian veterans. Better than I expected.

08. Testament – “The Haunting” (from “The Legacy”, 1987)
5/5 classic bay area shit

09. Metallica – “Harvester Of Sorrow” (from “…And Justice For All”, 1988)
4.5/5 Brilliant. Listening to it now it seems to have elements of doom metal that I never really noticed before.

10. Slayer – “Skeletons Of Society” (from “Seasons In The Abyss”, 1990)
4.5/5 Slayer is as Slayer does.

11. Suicidal Tendencies – “I Feel Your Pain… & I Survive” (from “Join The Army”, 1987)
4/5 I was a huge fan of ST back inthe day. Not so much now but this still sounds terrific.

12. Gojira – “Born For One Thing” (from “Fortitude”, 2021)
4/5 I've never bothered with these guys but this is brilliant. Will check this album out.

13. Pantera – “I’m Broken” (from “Far Beyond Driven”, 1994) [Submitted by Daniel]
2.5/5 Don't know what it is about Pantera that rubs me up the wrong way but something does. I think it may be Anselmo's vocals.

14. Ritual Carnage – “Escape From The Light” (from “Every Nerve Alive”, 2000)
3.5/5 pretty good - another new one on me.

15. Helstar – “Pandemonium” (from “Glory Of Chaos”, 2010)
3.5/5 They obviously got better after 1989's Nosferatu which I really didn't like.

16. Striker – “Crossroads” (from “City Of Gold”, 2013)
3.5/5 More Maiden than Slayer

17. Flotsam & Jetsam – “Blood In The Water” (from “Blood In The Water”, 2021)
3.5/5 Decent - F&J were never really much more than that to me.

18. Anthrax – “Imitation Of Life” (from “Among The Living”, 1987) [Submitted by Sonny92]
5/5 Love this album. Love this song.

19. Vreid – “Shadows Of Aurora” (from “Wild North West”, 2021) [Submitted by Sonny92]
4/5 Anthrax-ish thrash from the unpredictable latest album from the BM stalwarts.

20. Kreator – “Under A Total Blackened Sky” (from “Enemy Of God”, 2005) [Submitted by Sonny92]
4/5 Kreator back in the thrash groove after struggling to adapt their sound for a few albums.

21. Hirax – “Flesh & Blood” (from “El Rostro de la Muerte”, 2009) [Submitted by Vinny]
3.5/5 Riotous stuff.

22. Feared – “Your Black Is My White” (from “Svart”, 2017) [Submitted by Vinny]
2/5 No. I didn't like this at all.

23. Cruel Force – “Victim Of Hellfire” (from “The Rise Of Satanic Might”, 2010)
4/5 I like the heads-down charge on this track.

24. Nekrofilth – “Crave The Grave” (from “Devil’s Breath”, 2013)
3/5 I much prefer Zack Rose's other band Crucified Mortals.

25. Cryptic Slaughter – “Wake Up” (from “Money Talks”, 1987)
3.5/5 Lots of HC influence - sounds musically a lot like Suicidal Tendencies S/T debut (which I love).

26. Scythelord – “Wireframe” (from “Earth Boiling Dystopia”, 2021)
3/5 Too much like some kind of HC death metal for my taste.

27. Sadus – “The Wake” (from “Swallowed In Black”, 1990)
4.5/5 I love this album's deaththrash mayhem.

28. Nekromantheon – “Zealot Reign” (from “Visions Of Trismegistos”, 2021)
4.5/5 Kick-ass track from one of the best thrash albums in years

The vocals are really cool though, for some reason it reminds me of a Thrash Metal Geddy Lee from Rush with the higher pitched, more Rock-ish screams and flourishes. Still not sure if that's technically a positive or not, but it is in my book. 

This right here is why I love this place.  Never heard that comparison before but now you have said it, I can kinda hear it too.

I don't know what the hell that "mix" of Fucking Hostile was aiming to achieve but it was awful.  I was surprised at the Flotsam and Jetsam track as previous ones of the new album hadn't stuck with me, very catchy and memorable if not still a tad predictable.  Artillery managed to not get skipped this time around but man does that album sound accessible in comparison to previous ones.  Still not getting on with Bewitcher though.

I am now all but done with Bathory, just do not get the love for them overall and that Vektor track was a bit too safe for my expectations of them.  On the positive side I enjoyed the dash of Kreator, Nekromantheon, Possessed, Enforcer, Antiverse, Leeway and (surprisingly) that Sepultura track also.

My inclusion of Toxik reminds me to spend more time with their discography as they get far too little attention.

I'm inexcusably tardy getting my comments in on this month's Pit feature, especially considering it's my suggestion. Sorry.

Anyway, Daniel has given me some great recommendations for more underground 1980's thrash metal albums and this is one of my favourites. I got into metal around the same time as the punk scene exploded here in the UK and I could never understand why the one could not co-exist with the other. Some may argue punk was a fashion-based scene and to some extent this is true, but musically both were about the energy and resistance to authority and I could never understand the two scenes mutual antipathy. I mention this because my love of both punk and metal has always drawn me towards bands that sound like they have a more "garage" mentality and although their playing may not be the most technically gifted, sheer adrenaline and attitude shine through and give certain albums and bands an X-factor that can't be defined by technical assessment. The Italian thrashers debut is an album that, I would contend, is a perfect example of this attitude. Sure at times it sounds sloppy and the production isn't the greatest (although it's nowhere near as bad a s some would have you believe), but it is an adrenaline-fuelled half an hour of balls-out riffing and snarling Kreator-influenced proto-death thrash metal that makes you feel like you could punch through a brick wall. Although 1987 gave us some classic thrash metal albums I personally feel Necrodeath have no reason to feel outgunned by most of them and Into the Macabre fully deserves a place in that year's best of lists.

Solid list this month.

High points (minus my selections) = Evile (considering I said last month they did nothing for me), Razor, Sodom, Sacred Reich, Midnight, Coroner and Slayer

Low points = Soulfly, The Accüsed, Crumbsuckers, Living Death, Flotsam & Jetsam, Usurper (yes, I chose that) and Artillery (what the hell happened there lads?)

I like both albums, having given each of them 4 stars, being great albums (though not what people consider the best) from two of the Big 4 of American thrash metal. But the one I prefer is... Anthrax's State of Euphoria! I agree about that Anthrax album being underrated, there's a great amount of thrash classics that sadly many other listeners put down over the years thinking the sound is not the same as earlier. So Far, So Good... So What! is a good classic too, with nearly 5 of the 8 songs being perfect and would've made me gained interest in this band...if not for 3 meddling stinkers that made the rating plummet slightly lower than that Anthrax album. With that, Anthrax makes my vote!

Anthrax: 1

Megadeth: 2