Review by Daniel for Intruder - Live to Die (1987)
Nashville, Tennessee…. it’s not exactly a location that immediately brings to mind vicious mosh pits or light-speed tremolo riff sessions now, is it? And for good reason too. But by the mid-to-late 1980’s, metal had made such a mark on popular culture that it wasn’t uncommon to read of bands like Intruder who were fighting against local stereotypes & producing their own brand of high intensity music, all in the name of replicating their metal idols. Intruder are generally regarded as a thrash metal act but the truth is that they’d yet to discover Slayer by the time they recorded their debut album “Live To Die” in 1987 & their sound was still more in line with speed metal; a subgenre that had thrived in the United States in the preceding few years with several of the major cities becoming hot beds for the sound. New York’s Anthrax & Original Sin, Chicago’s ZnöWhite & Damien Thorne, Los Angeles’ Savage Grace, Agent Steel & Abattoir, Atlanta’s Hallows Eve & New Jersey’s Blessed Death had all had a crack at appeasing the speed gods by this stage so these were exciting times for American speed metal fans.
Intruder first formed as a four-piece way back in 1984 but were still known as Transgresser in those days. They were pretty much a Black Sabbath covers band to begin with but gradually integrated some original material into their repertoire over time which would result in two demos being recorded in 1984 & 1986; the second of which would lead to a single album recording deal with Iron Works Records. Iron Works was a sub-label of Californian label Azra Records & had previously enjoyed some success with Jag Panzer’s debut album “Ample Destruction” & (to a lesser extent) Liege Lord’s first up effort “Freedom Rise”. It was a deal that would see the band making the difficult decision to change their moniker to one that better suited their sound due to many fans seeming to link the word Transgresser to Satanic black metal.
Intruder’s debut album “Live To Die” would be recorded locally at Treasure Isle Studios in Nashville in 1987 with producer Tom Harding who was mainly known for his work with country artists like Lyle Lovett & Marie Osmond. It would be one of the very first US metal releases to be recorded purely digitally after Manowar had tested the waters with their “Fighting The World” album earlier that year. Interestingly though, the record would come out sounding pretty good for an underground speed metal debut, despite the guitar tone varying a little between tracks. All of the instruments can be easily identified with the rhythm guitars managing to overcome a particularly loud & boomy snare sound that really cuts through the mix. The lead guitar tone is nice & shreddy & really highlights the obvious skills of talented axe-man Arthur Vinnett.
The cover artwork for “Live To Die” is worth mentioning as it doesn’t really represent the sound that Intruder were pushing at the time all that well. It’s a pretty disconsolate looking image that would be much more appropriate for a depressive funeral doom metal release than an up-tempo speed metal affair but at least it’s attractive to a metal audience, even if it might not be the specifically desired subsection.
Despite already having stated my opinion on the most suitable genre tag for “Live To Die” earlier on in the review, it’s not actually all that clean cut as there are also tracks that move predominantly in the thrash metal & heavy metal space even though there’s often a bit of cross-pollination going on. I’m guessing that this can mainly be put down to the fact that the band were still very much in transition from a more traditional heavy metal band into one that focused entirely on the relatively new thrash metal craze that had taken over the underground. This is evident in the way that many of the songs hit kind of a middle ground between two styles. For that reason, it’s not all that easy to pick out any obvious influences. One moment you’ll be hearing a bit of Whitesnake or Van Halen, then later in the same track you’ll find the likes of Anthrax springing to mind but Intruder never really sound all that intimidating for a supposed thrash band.
A lot of that is due to the more traditional & accessible performance from front man Jimmy Hamilton whose delivery sits comfortably on the more melodic side of the thrash/speed metal equation. Jimmy can really sing when he puts his mind to it & I’d describe his tone as sitting somewhere between former Riot front man Guy Speranza & Anthrax legend Joey Belladonna. The question of whether he’s an ideal fit for a speed metal band is worth asking though. I think he does a really good job here however I have to admit that I regularly find myself thinking that he would have made a great hard rock singer. The rest of the band are all well qualified for their tasks too & always have a great energy about them. There’s some good complexity to the arrangements without ever sounding like the band were trying to be overly showy. But the star of the show is definitely lone guitarist Vinnett who slays pretty much every solo here. He’s an extremely talented shredder & I actually find a few of his solos to be powerful enough to lift some of the flatter material to another level. I have to wonder how he sounded without the additional rhythm guitar tracks in a live environment though. The few acoustic guitar sections are a lovely touch but I can do without the semi-regular use of gang vocals to be honest.
It’s hard to fault a record like “Live To Die”. The tracklisting is generally very consistent with only slower heavy metal number “Cold-Blooded Killer” falling a little flat. I can really appreciate the quality of the musicianship & composition & find myself engaged throughout most of the album but I think Intruder were just lacking a bit in the hooks department at this point in their career. They also sound a little too light-weight to really drive their point home at times & perhaps that’s got something to do with the fact that they chose to record with a country music producer. This is compounded by the fact that the less intense numbers tend to be the weaker ones & (perhaps unsurprisingly) I tend to gravitate towards the thrashier songs like album highlight “Victory In Disguise”. There’s certainly some good metal here with more than enough energy to get most thrashers jumping around a mosh pit but Intruder weren’t threatening the Big Four at this stage.
For fans of: Lååz Rockit, ZnöWhite, Anthrax