Agent Steel - Skeptics Apocalypse (1985)^{Release ID: 4053}

LA speed metal outfit Agent Steel first formed around former Abbatoir vocalist John Cyriis & drummer Chuck Profus back in 1984 & released a couple of crude demos that year before signing a recording contract with Combat Records. Combat was a New York metal label that had previously released a couple of reasonably well-known underground records in Savatage’s “The Dungeons Are Calling” E.P. & Helstar’s “Burning Star” debut but they were about to hit the big time with a string of popular releases from artists such as Megadeth, Possessed & Abbatoir in the coming months.

Agent Steel’s debut album “Skeptics Apocalypse” was recorded in Los Angeles with little-known producer Jay Jones & it hit the shelves in June 1985. The tracklisting actually includes a couple of tracks that can be traced back to Cyriis & Profus’ earlier band Sceptre with “Taken By Force” having been previously included on Metal Blade’s “Metal Massacre IV” compilation under their previous moniker. It’s interesting that those two tracks are actually the only songs that I’d label as genuine speed metal on the album with the rest falling into either the thrash metal camp or a more traditional heavy metal one so it’s likely that Agent Steel were already moving away from that sound even at this early stage & it also highlights what a loose subgenre tag the “speed metal” one is to be honest. I mean there are certainly records that pretty obviously fall into the speed metal bucket however a good portion of them could just as easily be labelled as thrash or heavy metal. I tend to find that the “speed metal” tag is often used to label releases that don’t obviously fit into either camp (like Anthrax’s “Fistful Of Metal” for example) & that’s what we see here because there’s unquestionably more genuine thrash & heavy metal included here than there is speed metal but I have to admit that I’m more comfortable calling it speed metal simply because I don’t feel that thrash or heavy metal fans would necessarily be happy with either of those two tags. It’s just a nice middle ground catch-all really.

The production job suits Agent Steel’s sound quite nicely in that it offers a nice combination of rawness & clarity & has a distinctly underground mid-80’s metal vibe to it. It’s interesting that the sound does change dramatically between the A & B Sides though with the guitars on the B side sounding noticeably thinner when played back to back with the A side so it’s clear that “Skeptics Apocalypse” hasn’t been well mastered.

Instrumentally, the main characteristics of the Agent Steel sound are the almost exclusive use of fast tempos & flat-out drumming as well as the attention to melody in the riffs & harmonies which is possibly one of the differentiating elements from your more classic thrash metal sound. The constant commitment to velocity can make the album sound a little one-dimensional to some listeners but there’s a melodic sensibility to the song-writing that often draws more inspiration from the NWOBHM than it does the likes of Metallica or Slayer. In fact, just like the Helloween E.P. from the same year, there are some tracks included that sound noticeably like Iron Maiden on speed with the extensive use of fast harmonized guitar lines; although they’re nowhere near as obvious or cheesy as Helloween employed it has to be said. “144,000 Gone” & “Back To Reign” are good examples of that.

The A side is completely dominated by three legitimate thrash outings & these songs absolutely go for broke. I have to admit that Agent Steel really tear shreds off me when they thrash out & there’s a tonne of “Show No Mercy” era Slayer about songs like “Evil Eye/Evil Mind”, “Bleed For The Godz”, “Children Of The Sun” & “Taken By Force”. In fact, “Agents of Steel” sounds decidedly like classic Exodus & “Evil Eye/Evil Mind” brings to mind early Kreator during it’s more intense moments so I find it pretty hard to understand people arguing against the thrash metal component of “Skeptics Apocalypse” as it seems blatantly obvious to me. The more traditional heavy metal side of Agent Steel’s sound obviously draws most regularly from the Maiden playbook but there’s also plenty of Mercyful Fate about their approach & a little Judas Priest here & there too. The shredding style of the dual guitar solos is where this is most obvious & it also brings to mind Slayer’s Kerry King & Jeff Hannemann combination in its over-the-top & almost chaotic approach at times too.

But it’s front man John Cyriis that is the clear focal point of the Agent Steel sound with his higher register delivery being another clear differentiator from most thrash metal outfits. And boy can he get up there! There are some ear-piercing screams employed across the tracklisting at times & John has the ability to take a reasonably decent chorus & make it into something special when he gets it right. But he doesn’t ALWAYS get it right though. “Children Of The Sun” is a fine example of this with John repeatedly straying out of key while his King Diamond imitation work on “Taken By Force” is also pretty polarizing too. At his peak John works in a similar space to the Bruce Dickinson’s & Geoff Tate’s only with a little less polish about him & it’s Cyriis’ contribution along with those fast-paced & melodic guitar harmonies that most draws people to incorrectly suggest that there’s a strong power metal component to the Agent Steel sound. Blue collar US power metal? Yes, certainly but not the European variety. John’s lyrics are worth mentioning too. Mainly for their strong concentration on science fiction, UFO & conspiracy theories which would only become greater with future releases. He clearly had an interest in these topics & this can also be seen in the cover artwork & album title.

Given that “Skeptics Apocalypse” represents a clear middle ground between heavy metal & thrash I’d suggest that fans of early Anthrax, Metal Church, Laaz Rockit & Omen should find this a really enjoyable listen. It’s a very consistent & unapologetic speed metal record that leaves me feeling thoroughly satisfied after every listen. It’s perhaps not quite as strong as the Exciter's "Long Live The Loud" which was released at around the same time but it’s certainly not very far behind & I regard it as the best US speed metal release to the time.