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1. Lack Of Motivation
2. C.D.S.
3. Punishment Area
4. Rampage / Nothing Uncommon
5. Have No Fear
6. What Would You Expect
7. Darkside
8. Shadow Knows
9. Ripoffs
10. Time Bomb
11. Instruments Of Death
Faith Or Fear were one of those thrash metal bands who never released more
than one album during their existence. Punishment Area is a decent
effort with actually a surprisingly more versatile sound than what some of the
other lesser bands put out at the time. There's even some genuine creativity
put into the songs although the music on the whole is not too memorable except
for some small snippets. Tim Blackman's vocals are a bit on the emotionless
side, but they are quite suitable for the music anyway. Punishment Area
is not the most generic thrash metal album that I've heard but certainly not
one of the most significant releases either.
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1. Premier Parish
2. Ice
3. Spectacle Of Fear
4. Faith Fails
5. Injection - Overdose
6. At Night
7. Dental Surgery
8. Hangover
9. Another One
10. Visions Of Terror
Fallen Angel played some interesting speed/thrash metal on their only
full-length release. Well produced and featuring a lot of memorable hooks in
songs, Faith Fails is a stylish and intense demonstration of this
band's music. Although the vocals sound a bit immature at first, this album is
quite a professional piece of work, and the only thing that really prevents it
from rising above the average is a certain superficial feel that can be sensed
at times. Other than that, these tracks have stood against time pretty well
and make it easier to give the album a spin every now and then. The guitars in
particular have some fine moments with a few truly intriguing riffs. Though
some parts of Faith Fails can appear a bit banal, this album is a nice
example of old thrash metal done with style.
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1. Chosen Fate
2. Psychotic Mind
3. Don't Criticize
4. Final Call
5. Backstabber
6. E.R.C.
7. Not Sure
8. Kill Rip Destroy
Another long lost minor thrash metal band of the eighties, Fantom Warrior
never had much of a chance to reach the ears of a casual listener. This is a
slight pity as Fantasy Or Reality is nowhere near the worst of its
kind, in fact this album provides a pleasant surprise with its powerful
content. There are some fresh ideas, even hints of originality in this music,
and the riffs are mostly very adequate. Just occasionally the band's output
sounds almost rushed, as several tracks are quite short although they get
their point through. Not holding back any speed, fine thrashers like
Psychotic Mind, Backstabber, and especially the wondefully
hard-hitting Final Call ensure that this is one of the more memorable
albums from the old underground scene. Whoever designed the cover art
certainly deserves to get slapped around a bit, though.
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1. Murder
2. Legend
3. Beloved Dead
4. Moorgle
5. Werewolf On The Hunt
6. Cocksuckin' Slave
7. Evil
8. Infidel
Flames surely were not a common example of a Greek speed/thrash metal band in
the eighties. In addition to having possibly the most uncute cover in these
circles ever, Merciless Slaughter functions as something of a bridge
between the band's oldest, more traditional material, and later pure thrash
metal. Murder opens the album already in that intense thrashy vein that
would be in full force on the next release, and a couple of other tracks
follow the same high-speed approach. Then again, there is still a fair share
of less frantic performances as well, and in comparison to later Flames
recordings this one is easily the most antiquated of the bunch. Nothing wrong
with that, though, and if you can put up with some old-fashioned antics then
Merciless Slaughter should be capable of providing a few entertaining
moments, too.
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1. Eastern Front
2. Summon The Dead
3. Kill For Mummy
4. Alcoholic & Beer
5. Legend II (The Demon's Mind)
6. Legions Of Death
7. Avenger
8. Slaughterhouse
9. Ballad Of A Skinbeating Maniac
Making a clear difference from the earlier works of Flames, the style of
Summon The Dead is quite standard but still interesting heavy thrash
metal - sometimes surprisingly similar to typical German bands of the time but
with a twist of its own, while the vocal department reminds me of Exorcist.
The music is very energetic, guaranteed to create some positive vibes based on
its fresh sound alone. Although this album suffers from a mediocre production
which makes it sound rather messy and rough, the songs more than compensate
for this. Avenger in particular must be one of the coolest thrashers
around. Even if their style was nothing that hadn't been heard before, Flames
managed to add a good dose of fresh appeal to their sound. If you can look
past the shortcomings in the production department, this album is likely to
turn out quite enjoyable.
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1. Revenge
2. Deathra
3. Agnostic Front
4. Destiny Of Hate
5. Red Terror
6. Silo
7. Acid Rain
8. Drinking All Night
Last Prophecy follows closely in the vein of Summon The Dead,
with little difference between these albums. The songs may lack a little bit
of the unchained feel of the previous release, but on the other hand the
result appears more consistent in comparison. This time there are no such
absolute killer tracks as Avenger (Agnostic Front may be the
closest contender) but no really bad ones either, and some of the heaviest
riffs here more than fit the bill. Considering the sound quality, this album
is slightly better and sounds even a bit heavier than its predecessor although
the production is still far from perfect. If Summon The Dead caught
your attention then Last Prophecy is a safe companion for that one,
with no radical surprises.
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1. Savage Brains
2. Oath Immortal
3. Throne Of Pain
4. Never Ending Suicide
5. Pollution Attack
6. Shadows
7. Denied
8. Human Inhumanity
9. Reborn
10. Frei Statt Bayern
11. Revenge (bonus)
12. Red Terror (bonus)
Continuing their efforts to the nineties, Flames made an album that did not
drift too far away from their legacy sound while it did develop the band's
style by a fair notch. Although the general feel of In Agony Rise is
somewhat more restricted and not quite as energetic as on Summon The
Dead and Last Prophecy, there are some cool pieces to be found
here as well (Savage Brains and Reborn immediately come to
mind). The downside is that despite a couple of standout tracks this album on
the whole is a bit too unsurprising and predictable to really make a
distinctive impression, therefore the result does not quite match the previous
releases. It's a good thing to see the band sticking to the traditional
approach, though, and in that sense In Agony Rise is still a fair
addition to anyone's collection.
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1. Black Rose Of Hades
2. Bitch
3. Holocaust
4. Nagasaki -45
5. Blind Acceptance
6. World Of Lies
7. Touch Of Death
8. Raped To The Core
9. Punisher
10. Skullfuck
11. Slave
On the surface, Flegma's Blind Acceptance appears like a strong
offering at first. The opening track Black Rose Of Hades actually makes
sort of a novel impression with its steady tempo - if Motorhead had played
thrash metal in the beginning, it could have sounded something like this. But
it doesn't take too long before you realize that almost all tracks run at the
same pace and most of them even sound nearly identical from start to finish.
It is not really bad but even in the short run the music can get quite
monotonous if you listen to more than one track a day. This is a slight pity
as Flegma certainly had some style, and their output on this album is
definitely as consistent as it gets. With no variation whatsoever the result
just doesn't get any high points in terms of long-lasting appeal.
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1. Hammerhead
2. Iron Tears
3. Desecrator
4. Fade To Black
5. Doomsday For The Deceiver
6. Metalshock
7. She Took An Axe
8. U.L.S.W.
9. Der Fuhrer
10. Flotzilla (bonus)
The classic debut of Flotsam And Jetsam is a mixture of immense speed and some
weird humor in lyrics. Although most of the songs do not have their original
appeal anymore, sometimes the sheer speed still works fine on tracks like
Desecrator. The band's vocalist Eric A.K. had an extremely high-pitched
voice that is very distinctive but may not be the most appropriate for this
kind of music (some of his squeals are particularly annoying). On this album
the result is passable, though, as the production is not too heavy either.
Without a doubt, the highlights of the album are the title track and its
direct follow-up Metalshock, both of them epic songs with only the
weird "metal" lyrics as bad points (I sure hope they were meant to be humorous
in the first place). Of course, Flotsam And Jetsam may be best known for the
fact that Jason Newstedt played on this particular album, but Doomsday For
The Deceiver is still an interesting piece of old thrash metal and
probably one of the more remarkable releases this band ever made.
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1. No Place For Disgrace
2. Dreams Of Death
3. N.E. Terror
4. Escape From Within
5. Saturday Night's Alright For Fighting
6. Hard On You
7. I Live You Die
8. Misguided Fortune
9. P.A.A.B.
10. The Jones
The second album of Flotsam And Jetsam had a lot more serious tone than their
debut. Except for the stupid Elton John cover Saturday Night's Alright For
Fighting, No Place For Disgrace has almost a melancholic feel while
it remains reasonably fast and thrashy. The vocals sound now more stylish and
convincing, and with a bit better production this album could have scored even
higher. Now the very thin, buzzing guitar sound is just too irritating at
times and seriously lessens the impact of this release. Nevertheless, No
Place For Disgrace features some of this band's best work, including
Escape From Within and I Live You Die. With a little more effort
on the production side this could have been a great album, now it's just
pretty good.
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1. The Master Sleeps
2. Burned Device
3. Deviation
4. October Thorns
5. No More Fun
6. Suffer The Masses
7. 6, Six, VI
8. Greed
9. E.M.T.E.K.
10. Scars
11. K.A.B.
Flotsam's move to a major label made their style change to a more polished and
less aggressive direction. While When The Storm Comes Down is
reasonably heavy and there are still some thrashy moments here and there, a
certain slowdown of music is evident. The songs are generally more thoughtful
and mature than before, which also makes the album sound a bit dull and soft.
Certainly the outcome is a professional effort, but it is also rather
unexciting and uninspiring. At least on the previous two releases Flotsam had
a great deal of energy and some fresh ideas. When The Storm Comes Down
is a piece of polished speed metal that doesn't exactly appear too original or
interesting anymore.
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1. Chalice Of Blood
2. Off The Edge
3. Through Eyes Of Glass
4. Forbidden Evil
5. March Into Fire
6. Feel No Pain
7. As Good As Dead
8. Follow Me
Forbidden were one of the more interesting bands coming from the US west
coast in the late eighties. Forbidden Evil is a convincing debut
release, featuring some inspiring guitar work and a lot of memorable songs.
Russ Anderson's vocals are very powerful and distinctive, and the music is
generally more original and stronger than what many other bands of the era had
to offer. There's some roughness in the sound but the overall production is
sufficiently heavy and clear. Although the first half of the album from the
furious Chalice Of Blood to the striking title track appears more
impressive than the second and the band sound a bit immature at times, on the
whole Forbidden Evil contains some of the better thrash metal of the
time.
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1. Parting Of The Ways
2. Infinite
3. Out Of Body (Out Of Mind)
4. Step By Step
5. Twisted Into Form
6. R.I.P.
7. Spiral Depression
8. Tossed Away
9. One Foot In Hell
Forbidden's second release took a step into a lot heavier and more controlled
direction. The general tone of Twisted Into Form is dark and classy and
the music is less flashy than on Forbidden Evil. Considering vocals and
guitars, this more focused approach is only good as the music now involves
more conviction and credibility. On the other hand, a couple of tracks sound a
bit too forced for my taste (Step By Step in particular I still cannot
stand) although there's a bigger number of vivid, crushing tracks as well.
Twisted Into Form shows some essential development in Forbidden's
sound, though, and the resulting album is very impressive and directly
comparable to Forbidden Evil in quality.
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1. Distortion
2. Hypnotized By The Rhythm
3. Rape
4. No Reason
5. Feed The Hand
6. Wake Up!
7. Minds "I"
8. All That Is
9. Undertaker
10. 21st Century Schizoid Man
After some problematic years in the music industry, Forbidden finally returned
with their third album. Distortion carries the customary Forbidden
sound, now with some additional diversity incorporated in the music that
remains heavy though not quite as fast as before. The band still had their
roots in thrash metal, and in the end Distortion is not too radically
different from Twisted Into Form. The quality varies a bit too much,
though, as some tracks are just excellent whereas others sound forced and less
impressive. The first few songs in particular are stronger than the rest of
the album (the overlong King Crimson cover 21st Century Schizoid Man
with its distorted vocals is plain horrible). Distortion is a fair
release on its own but not quite on par with the first two Forbidden albums.
Note:
This album has been released with at least three different covers depending on
the record label. The original (and most politically incorrect) cover was
drawn by Kent Mathieu who created the cover art also for the first two
Forbidden albums.
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1. Bludgeon
2. Kaleidoscope Of Pain
3. A Look Through Glass
4. Anaconda
5. Octoclops
6. Unrest They Find
7. Morgulon
8. Foreign Policy
It can be surprisingly tiresome to listen to some thrash metal bands who
didn't start until the very late eighties or early nineties. Forced Entry's
debut album Uncertain Future is just one example of a release that
doesn't exactly get high points for its content as far as the originality of
music is considered. The band do sound very heavy but that's about the only
good thing. On the downside, the whole album sounds very strained, especially
considering the vocals, and despite the obvious effort put into it the tracks
are often plodding, tedious pieces of work. Some fresh energy might have
helped this one a lot, now the result is rather dull and pointless. Probably
it shouldn't be for the musical values to include Uncertain Future in
your collection.
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1. Bone Crackin' Fever
2. Thunderhead
3. Macrocosm, Microcosm
4. Never A Know, But The No
5. We're Dicks
6. Apathy
7. The Unextinguishable
8. As Of Yesterday
9. When One Becomes Two
10. How We Spent Our Summer Vacation
Forced Entry's second release showed some progress in the band's style, and
thanks to the more dynamic production As Above, So Below does not
appear as dry as the debut release. For a while this album even manages to
sound really promising as Bone Crackin' Fever is a total steamroller
for a song. Unfortunately, the initial highly favorable impression doesn't
last through the whole album. Although these tracks are slightly more diverse
and appealing than those on Uncertain Future and there's a good deal of
complexity in the music, the songwriting is not quite distinctive enough to
make this album rise above the average. At least As Above, So Below
is somewhat more convincing than the band's debut and occasionally it sounds
even quite fine.
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1. No Return
2. Maniac
3. The Last Flight
4. Awaiting Your Death
5. Blood In The Night
6. Another Sacrifice
7. Sueno Maldito
8. Born To Die
9. Black Magic
This band's sole existence must have caused hilarious moments in record stores
in the past: "Hello, what are you looking for?" "Fuck Off." Seriously though,
there's more to it than just the amusing name. Another Sacrifice was
the debut album of this Spanish group and not such a bad one at all. The
production is surprisingly adequate, and the vocals have an original nasty
tone in them, which is probably the most distinctive feature of this record.
It's not exactly a showcase of memorable riffs, quite the opposite, and this
is one of those albums where you'd be hard-pressed to remember individual
songs from (except for the faithfully rendered version of Slayer's Black
Magic, of course). The general good sound and attitude of the band
eventually leads to something of a positive impression, though. Not really a
highlight of the genre but worth a listen if easily available, that's what
this album is mostly about.
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1. Embrion
2. Witch (Hell Below The Belly)
3. Blasphemy
4. Midnight Confession
5. Whom You Never To Say His Name
6. Don't You Have Fear
7. Hell On Earth
8. Inquisition
9. In Your Grave
10. Cyclone
Hell On Earth was quite a familiar-sounding follow-up to Another
Sacrifice. While this album features a different vocalist, there are no
great stylistic differences although the new singer's strong accent
occasionally adds some unintentional humor to the mix. Although the mood has
essentially remained unchanged, some tracks are slightly more memorable than
those on the previous release, mostly due to their good steady pace. Still, it
would be stretching it a bit to call any of these riffs downright catchy. It
seems as if the band's sound had matured by a small but audible measure, which
probably shows best in the instrumental Cyclone - even though the
average quality of this track does not quite justify its length of nearly ten
minutes. Apart from that, there are no real surprises to be found on Hell
On Earth, which just proves that the band had a consistent style already
in the beginning.
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1. After The Battle
2. In God We Trust
3. Your Time Has Come
4. The Dark
5. Reign Of Death
6. Misery
7. In Silence
8. Midnight Hour
9. Molded From Sin
10. Eternal Promises
11. State Of Insanity
12. Sign Of Baphomet
13. The Abyss
If it weren't for Slayer and Infernal Majesty in their early days, Funeral
Nation's sound could have been rather novel. Now the feel of After The
Battle should be quite familiar to almost anyone, complete with the
general satanic theme. However, the result seems to lack some of the appeal
found in older recordings. Most of the time this album tends to repeat itself,
and many tracks appear somewhat uninteresting, even dull in the long run.
Often the band's playing sounds just a bit too tense and forced. Although the
output has a certain level of grim quality, personally I would have preferred
some more dynamic and unconstrained sound. After The Battle has its
moments, but on the whole this thing could have used some improvement.
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