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1. Brain Washing
2. Magic C'R'Cl
3. My Last Words
4. Merry Sinner
5. Traces Of Dreams
6. Final Mission
7. The Eyes Of The Blind Man
8. Slammin' Boys
9. Pariah
10. Still Have To Pray
There are many bands like Iceland, relatively unknown outside small circles
but musically not too different from the majority of performers in the genre.
This French group's full-length release starts out promising enough to raise
your interest fairly high - the band's sound is very sharp and even fresh, and
ultimately the album gets somewhat weary just because the rest of it is not
quite strong enough to meet the initial expectations. In other words, Iceland
promise a bit more than they are actually able to deliver. The song structures
are varied enough and the band's presentation is powerful and all, but a bit
more than that would have been needed in the end game. This album is still
capable of giving a carefully favorable impression based on the sound and feel
of it alone, but there is a certain lack of more persistent quality as well.
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1. Into The Pits Of Thrash
2. Satanic Thrash Uppsala
3. Yakuza
4. T.K.N.D. (You Figure It Out)
5. Thrash (Or Die Trying)
6. Instant Hell Murder
7. Leveled To The Ground (By A Steamroller)
8. ThrashZilla
9. ThrashZilla's Revenge
10. MechaNukeThrashZilla
11. The Burning Of Sodom (bonus)
With a title like Thrash, Kill 'n' Destroy, Immaculate's initial entry
into the genre is guaranteed to appear quite stereotypical at the first sight.
Not far from expected, the music is very homespun sounding thrash metal with
mostly ordinary qualities, and while it would be possible to describe the style
in more detail, this might mean giving the band too much credit. One of the
weakest points of this album must be the lyrics that are dumber than dumb,
almost so bad that one can only trust they were meant to be a total joke in the
first place. Even then this whole thing just fails to entertain - while
Leveled To The Ground (By A Steamroller) may be worth a chuckle or two,
some of these track titles appear a lot more amusing than most of the actual
songs. Granted, not every album needs to be a great piece of art, but
Immaculate's effort is dangerously close to the total opposite of flawless.
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1. In The Flesh
2. Take The Pain
3. Kill On Kommand
4. When The Evil Takes Its Course
5. It's The End Of The World
6. To Your Death
7. Legacy Of Violence
8. Knowledge Is King
9. P.O.W.
10. Plaque Of Death
11. Erosion Of Will
As their name implies, Impact were to deliver just that, underground thrash
metal with a genuine impact. From the opening moments of Take The Pain,
you are in for a relentless running flow of thrash metal at its keenest -
In The Flesh is totally in your face, and it doesn't end there. The
production more than fits the content with a ripping sound and feel. The
initial premise doesn't quite last through the whole length of this album,
though, as there are no essential differences between these tracks by and
large. In practice, it is one and the same idea that is being recycled here.
It is a refreshing dose of no-nonsense thrashing that you hear, more so than
on average actually, but it cannot be denied that despite all the good factors
Impact's means of making their way forward were rather limited at best.
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1. AxPx
2. Nightmare Attack
3. I'm Alive
4. Dozaemon
5. Total Dementia
6. Slave Of Master
7. Thrash Genocide
8. Impaler
Many releases from Japanese thrash metal bands in recent years seem to promote
a specific kind of musical frenzy, and Impaler's Nightmare Attack
follows the trend. Although this is basically another manifestation of thrash
metal essentials, the outward impression is a bit wilder than on most western
bands' albums. In particular, the vocalist goes to great lengths with his
relentless howling, which is kind of commendable. The lyrics are worth a
special note, too, though not necessarily in a positive sense - most of them
appear like something out of an automatic translator and end up being nearly
nonsensical more often than not. That aside, Nightmare Attack provides
little else than this genre is already full of, with no signs of real
divergence. No matter how curious, none of Impaler's current antics is enough
to give this album a boost that it would need to make a real impact.
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1. I.N.C.
2. The Grip Of Death
3. War Not Words
4. Anarchy (The Pursuit Of Happiness)
5. Razorback
6. Fists From The Mighty
7. Fear
8. Passageway Through Purgatory
Indestructible Noise Command's albums must be nowadays some of the rarest
things out there, deservedly so or not. The band's debut Razorback is a
piece of technical, dry-sounding thrash metal with off-note vocals that
sometimes give it an almost Voivod-ish feel although I.N.C. did derive their
music from a more conventional thrash metal base. The almost academic sound of
this debut album doesn't inspire any particularly positive comments although
there are some genuine, even original touches on it. The band occasionally
throw in some interesting riffs, but on the whole this album doesn't quite cut
it. Although Razorback shows some promise here and there, eventually it
fails to provide anything truly remarkable in the musical department.
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1. Dry Heave
2. Bed Time Stories
3. What Are You Looking At?
4. Thunder Struck
5. The Visitor
6. Scammed Again
7. Hypo-Dermic Coastline
8. Just What I Needed / Candy-O
The second and last release of I.N.C. has some of the dry feel of
Razorback left, but otherwise it succeeds notably better in catching the
listener's attention. The Visitor is heavier and also better produced
than the band's debut while it still retains a certain customary, slightly
quirky I.N.C. sound. No matter what, at least one can be sure of recognizing
the band quite easily even from a short sample. The opening Dry Heave
and the title track are probably the most accessible and also best tracks on
this thing, but the rest is not too bad either. In fact, one can easily learn
to like the band's unique, pounding guitar sound and sometimes funny vocals on
this recording, and even the more unordinary riffs are quite interesting at
least. Extra points must be given for the funniest "no thanks" note in the
album inserts ever [*] - incidentally, the track Scammed Again is based
on the same topic. Somewhat original and even surprising at times, The
Visitor is not your most typical thrash metal album out there.
* The mentioned note, exactly as written on the album sleeve:
INC would like to take the following out to Dinner and poison their food:
Fuck you to Don and his shit licking studio. You big drug usin, wife loosin,
heavy boozin, dog starving, blood moppin, mercedes wreckin, bow legged hiring,
phone cryin, cradle robbing, non-book writing, pipe beating, lawsuit catching
guy, you! And to "Larry Cox", may you and Don be permanently crazy glued in a
69 position for eternity, and be force-fed ex-lax. Her's mud in your eye!
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1. Scream Queen
2. Storm Of The Thrasher
3. The Collapse
4. Bestial Rage
5. Hypocritical Convictions
As far as banal album titles go, Incinerator's Thrash Attack is
directly comparable to Arakain's Thrash!, but at least you can easily
guess what the band's style is all about already long before hearing a single
note from this mini album. It is probably not a great surprise that there is
nothing particularly novel or original in Incinerator's music, as they sound
pretty much like any thrash metal band at this stage could be expected to
sound at the very least. While the output is fairly powerful, it is by no
means exceptional when compared to most other bands. It would have been
possible to make a difference by providing some genuine hooks and memorable
riffs, but obviously that didn't happen. In the end Thrash Attack is
just another formally correct recording, only devoid of anything above the
minimum requirements.
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1. The Battle Of Armageddon
2. Voices From The Grave
3. Sadistic Sinner
4. Incubus
5. Blaspheming Prophets
6. Hunger For Power
7. Serpent Temptation
8. Underground Killers
Incubus made a strong start as one of the heaviest bands in the eighties.
While their later recordings are more firmly in the death metal territory,
Serpent Temptation is an example of pure thrashing rage in its finest
form, with barking vocals and rampaging guitars. When Incubus play at
reasonable speeds, they produce some of the heaviest riffs you can ever hope
to hear. However, some tracks really test the limits of speed and occasionally
go beyond. It's not like the band couldn't hold it together, sometimes you
just really have to concentrate to be able to follow with the riot. Especially
the ultra-fast guitar solos on this album often sound downright rushed, making
even bands like Slayer sound almost progressive in comparison. But it's the
overall impact that matters and that's where Serpent Temptation really
makes its mark.
Note:
The CD release of this album features re-recorded vocals (in a dull death
metal vein) and guitars, also some track titles are different.
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1. All This Is All
2. Dirge
3. Chivy About
4. Self Conceit
5. Some Overdo It
6. The... End
7. Relapse
8. Warfare
9. Enigmatic Chamber
10. Cut This Live Off From Me
Incursion Dementa (whose name must be a misspelled homage to Nasty Savage) made
something of an uneven entry in the thrash metal realm. Most of All This
Is... is filled with heavy and often quite fast thrashing which carries all
the usual traits including a suitably grim guitar sound, but it does not really
catch fire. The first half of the album is essentially stronger and more
consistent, with The... End acting as a divider where the band seriously
cut speed and produce a long, dreamy and somewhat aimless journey. This one
exception aside, Incursion Dementa never give up on their heavy attack, but it
is clear that a remarkable recording this is not. While All This Is...
sounds sufficiently forceful, most of it just ends up being too much on the
forgettable, even dull side, and that's almost the worst thing that can happen.
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1. The Gate
2. U.S.S.A.
3. Ground Zero
4. Dead Girls (Don't Say No)
5. Fatal Sin
6. Brain Damaged
7. Justice Sucks
8. Shadowlord
9. A.I.M.L.E.S.S.
10. Dismembered
Indestroy were possibly one of the most interesting and original bands on the
New Renaissance Records underground label. Therefore it's a pity that their
debut suffers from an awfully muddy and unbalanced production that really
takes away from the listening experience. This is particularly sad because
many songs on this album are actually quite good, if somewhat unpolished. For
example, Dead Girls (Don't Say No) is a fast and hilarious piece with
some punkish influences that are apparent also on many other tracks. There
would be enough originality and energy in the music to make it rise above the
average level, if it just weren't for the poor production.
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1. Tortured By Fire
2. Living In Filth
3. Terminal Choice
4. Senseless Theories
5. Sam The Butcher
6. Instant Insanity
By this mini album Indestroy's music had gone through a major change in the
sound department. Forget the bad production and simplistic arrangements, now
Indestroy sounded like a totally different band with sharp, scathing guitars
and roaring vocals. Starting from the vicious Tortured By Fire, these
tracks are highly effective, crushing pieces of thrash metal that make the
debut look like a rehearsal tape of a lesser band. There's not a single filler
track on this album, and actually the only negative thing about this release
is that it's pretty short. As a result, Senseless Theories is easily
better than most full-length albums out there.
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1. Intro
2. Fear
3. Hate
4. Violent Reaction
5. The Damned Land
6. Possession
7. Fight To Survive
8. Thrash Attack
9. Death For Us All
10. Dirty Bitch
If thrash metal could be defined with a precise equation, Who Is Not?
would be the output. Infected's debut release is a piece of extremely typical
homegrown thrash metal that admittedly sounds fairly energetic but not strong
enough to make a prominent impression. The album starts off in quite a
promising way, with a sharp guitar sound and all, but it doesn't take long
before the ordinary qualities of the music become too obvious to be ignored.
This is thrash metal for the most genre-savvy persons and keen fans of the
style, as it can require a lot of knowledge and experience to be able to
appreciate the minor details that may provide an occasional sense of
entertainment. Frankly, most people are probably not that dedicated. While
Who Is Not? would pass a formal genre review with flying colors, it is
another story if it's really worth it to spend a good half hour or even more on
this album.
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1. Intro
2. Media Control
3. Dark Century
4. State Oppression
5. Brutalities Behind Your Back
6. Old No. 7
7. Headless
8. Backstabbing Small-Talk
9. Conditioned Minds
It is not too difficult to get Orwellian associations when Infected's Dark
Century is playing. The band's style is more than fitting for the theme,
cheerless thrash metal with very gruff vocals. While the songwriting formula
is rather effective and the output remains equally consistent, all tracks
admittedly sound quite similar to each other, and more often than not you
could even call this album downright monotonous. It is only very small details
that make tracks like State Oppression appear a bit more striking than
the others, but the impact can vary a lot depending on personal preferences.
Infected definitely knew how to stay focused for a full-length album, but if
you are not well prepared in advance then Dark Century can be a
tiresome listening experience in all its bleak approach.
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1. Overlord
2. R.I.P.
3. Night Of The Living Dead
4. S.O.S.
5. None Shall Defy
6. Skeletons In The Closet
7. Anthology Of Death
8. Path Of The Psyco
Infernal Majesty were one of the more notable Canadian thrash metal bands in
the eighties. None Shall Defy provides some heavy, dark thrashing very
closely in the vein of Slayer's Hell Awaits in both good and bad. At
their best, like on the title track and Skeletons In The Closet, the
band play reasonably fast and tight thrash metal. When they drop some speed and
intensity, the result can be downright flat and boring. The music is full of
satanic imagery similar to early Slayer releases, which of course is nothing
special. Based on this recording Infernal Majesty were actually among the
heaviest Canadian bands, although musically the others were usually more
interesting. In any case, None Shall Defy is a decent thrash metal
album even though far from overly impressive.
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1. Intro From Hell
2. Satanic Overkill
3. Tormentor
4. Ripping Hell
5. Storming Metal
6. Infernal Invasion
7. Sodom (Burning The Flag)
8. Necroslut
9. Torment Her
10. Massacre In Hell
11. Inferno
Sometimes a change of pace from usual, more serious recordings can be only a
good thing, and Inferno were a band to provide a lighter approach. Utter
Hell is essentially nothing but a homage to German bands from the early
eighties, only played in a more relaxed manner and with a certain
Motorhead-ish vibe. To call this album unoriginal would be a severe
understatement, but the result is strangely entertaining even though it was
outdated already at the time of its release. The vocals are actually the best
part of this album, crude and somewhat incoherent but also full of life and
positively fitting for the theme. Despite or because of the major rehashing of
old ideas, Utter Hell is not too memorable - it is more like a blend of
simple riffs that have seen their best days already. But there is still room
for albums like this, at least when they are created and played sparingly.
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1. Straight From Hell
2. Utter Hell
3. Rot In Hell
4. Roadkill
5. In Bed With Satan
6. Bulldozer
7. Alcoholocaust
8. Thrash Till Death
9. Metal Attack
10. Violator
With Downtown Hades Inferno actually showed some clear progress. Among
the most obvious hints, the band kicked up the speed another notch or two, and
the songs are generally shorter and more to the point. As a result, this album
sounds tighter and more intense than Utter Hell. For the most part it
would still pass as just a nice pastiche of the old if there weren't some
notable signs of actual creativity present. In particular,
Alcoholocaust is the real highlight of this album, a wild thrasher that
starts out sounding pretty typical, but when the band promptly kick into full
gear there is no return. Even though it is the only really memorable piece of
its kind, this one track is infinitely more than most other bands could ever
wish for. While Downtown Hades is still by no means a classic as a
whole, for a piece of unstressful thrash metal it is surely a fair treat.
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1. Escaped
2. The Past Never Dies
3. Legion Of Death
4. Translator
5. Impulsive Attack
6. Dead By Dawn
7. Zombie Squad
8. Fear The Face Of Death
It is not without value that Infinite Translation's Impulsive Attack
kicks off with some impressive speed, but you may start to wonder about the
lack of vocals before realizing that Escaped is actually an instrumental,
and quite average as such for an intro. The lengthy title track is another
piece that sounds more like an ordinary song where the vocals have been just
omitted except for the very end - it is certainly nowhere near the complexity
of Death Angel's The Ultra-Violence or even Re-Animator's Condemned
To Eternity. As for real sung tracks, they don't remarkably deviate from
the norm, running at a fast pace for the most part. The general tone is
sufficiently heavy despite the fast rhythms, and technically this album is a
fully competent piece of work. But if you are looking for anything exceptional
in the riff and composition department, Impulsive Attack is unlikely to
attract attention.
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1. Total Alarm
2. Sacrificer
3. Four Magicians
4. Die In Hell / Metal Torment
5. Evil Is At Hand
6. Death By Command
7. The Exorcist
8. Wait And Pray
Insane's Wait And Pray is quite an amusing affair. When the whole thing
openly imitates Slayer's Show No Mercy, it may be difficult to take an
objective stance on it. Surprisingly, the result sounds convincing enough so
that it is not totally impossible to maintain the necessary suspension of
disbelief. The songs faithfully follow the characteristic feel of the original
material they were modeled after, and the vocals are very close to Tom Araya's
early style. Not to mention that these tracks actually sound pretty good in a
nice old-fashioned way. It is unknown whether Insane ever intended to continue
further with the same approach, but in its current state Wait And Pray
remains the only piece of evidence from the experiment. While the long-time
value of such a direct homage may be debatable, this is as close to Show No
Mercy as you can get without resorting to the real thing.
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1. Attack Of Archangels
2. Fire, Death, Fate
3. In Memory
4. Rotting Decay
5. Morbid Lust
6. Blood For Blood
7. Possession
8. Death After Death
Take the uncontrolled speed of Incubus, couple it with the unforgiving tone of
Burnt Offering, add a drop of chaos from Hellwitch, and something like Death
After Death might emerge from the mix. Although the roots of Insanity date
back in the eighties, the band's full-length release is a late bloomer of a
sort. The album opens with an utterly frenetic aural onslaught in the form of
Attack Of Archangels and Fire, Death, Fate that already leave
most other bands behind in speed and pure attitude. This is practically a tad
more extreme variant of thrash metal, drawing its inspiration from the time
when "death metal" didn't mean cookie monster vocals and complex song
structures. While the music can appear like something of a mixed bag at times,
Insanity consistently throw in some serious guitar work, and it is not only due
to the title track that this album ends on a positive note. When pointless and
even dull releases are abound, Death After Death is an exception that
should leave no one cold.
Note:
Not unlike what Incubus did with Serpent Temptation, this album has been
later partially re-recorded, adding vocals closer to typical death metal.
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1. Slaves For Conviction
2. Evil In Your Veins
3. Porno Thrasher
4. No Mercy (For Blade)
5. Tonight
6. Intoxxxicated
7. Fuck Yourself
8. Cheetos En La Torta
9. I Want You Dead
10. Zombie Attack
11. Outro
When you start encountering albums like Intoxxxicated's Beware Of Metal
on a regular basis, it is difficult to avoid thoughts that maybe the saturation
of the genre has reached another peak. This is thrash metal in a rather generic
form, with no twists or surprises to be found. Although the band's output is
very vigorous and you certainly cannot blame them for putting a lot of effort
into it, very little of that actually sticks to your head. Most of these songs
are easily skippable although Porno Thrasher is kind of novel in all its
utter silliness. The latter also serves as an example of some of the most
laughable lyrics, though it is not really one of a kind. At least there is no
lack of speed when this album is playing, but it's hard to recall much of
anything else.
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1. Cover Up
2. Turn Back
3. Victory In Disguise
4. Live To Die
5. Kiss Of Death
6. Cold-Blooded Killer
7. Blind Rage
8. T.M. (You Paid The Price)
For having been released originally on an underground label, Intruder's debut
album got a surprisingly crisp and clear production. Live To Die is a
versatile and fairly heavy piece of speed/thrash metal that involves even a
small amount of originality. The vocals are rather high-pitched but aggressive
enough for this kind of music, and in comparison to some later releases of the
band, the songs on this album are more memorable and energetic. You probably
cannot avoid a recurring feeling that some of Intruder's antics were not too
novel even at the time of this release, but the band's powerful performance
helps to overcome this kind of thinking. Live To Die is nowhere near
the most classic or meaningful albums of its kind, but the fresh and lively
sound still makes it a decent one indeed.
Note:
The CD releases of this album feature different cover artwork than the original
vinyl.
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1. Time Of Trouble
2. The Martyr
3. Genetic Genocide
4. Second Chance
5. (I'm Not Your) Stepping Stone
6. Killing Winds
7. The Sentence Is Death
8. Agents Of The Dark (M.I.B.)
9. Antipathy
10. Mr. Death
Having moved to a bigger record label, Intruder continued with a more
streamlined and slightly faster style. Their second album A Higher Form Of
Killing is somewhat more coherent when compared to Live To Die, but
the music is also a bit less catchy and the riffs seem to have lost their best
hooks. As a result, some of these lengthy tracks just flow through your head
without a trace. The band certainly sound professional but also lack some
character, and except for the constant high speed there is little in this album
to make it fully stand out of the crowd. However, the music remains fast and
consistent, and the ending track Mr. Death has some special humorous
appeal of its own. While A Higher Form Of Killing is not quite as
memorable as Intruder's previous release, it does have other merits of its own.
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1. 25 Or 6 To 4
2. Escape From Pain
3. Cold-Blooded Killer
4. Kiss Of Death
5. T.M. (You Paid The Price)
After a couple of full-length albums, Intruder released this mini album as a
preparation for their coming tour. Although Escape From Pain is rather
long for its format (about a half hour), only the title track is actually of
new material. 25 Or 6 To 4 is a cover song, and the last three tracks
from the band's debut are re-recorded versions - not surprisingly, they are
the best tracks on the whole thing. The long title track is pretty much in the
vein of A Higher Form Of Killing, in other words, well-done but
somewhat forgettable. For those who already have Live To Die, Escape
From Pain is practically an unnecessary release.
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1. Face Of Hate
2. Geri's Lament
3. The Enemy Within
4. It's A Good Life
5. Invisible
6. Traitor To The Living
7. Final Word
8. N.G.R.I.
The feel of Intruder's last album is heavy and pondering, also somewhat slower
than on the earlier efforts. Psycho Savant adds some diversity to the
band's tested sound though musically it still doesn't quite match Live To
Die. Although this album is slightly more versatile than a couple of
previous releases, the songs are generally a bit too long for their own good,
which makes the album unnecessarily plodding at times. The most memorable
track is definitely Geri's Lament (When) which must be lyrically one of
the most original songs in the genre ever. As a whole, Psycho Savant is
like most other Intruder releases - well executed but not particularly
interesting or ground-breaking.
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1. Excursion Demise
2. (...To A Twisted Recess Of Mind)
3. Forsaken Ones
4. The Persistence From Memorial Chasm
5. Absurd Temptation
6. Schismatic Injective Therapy
7. Occurrence Concealed
8. Beyond Insufferable Dormancy
9. Inner Contrarieties
10. Alterations (bonus)
The other remarkable Danish thrash band besides Artillery, Invocator started
with a ferocious debut album. Excursion Demise is an outburst of almost
non-stop extreme thrash metal with harsh vocals and some death-ish touches.
The production is quite good and gives some additional boost for the music
that occasionally tends to sound a bit repetitive. Although the high-speed
efforts pay off fairly well (take the title track or The Persistence From
Memorial Chasm as examples of better songs), sometimes the thing just
drifts a bit off the target, making a few tracks sound too samey. But it's
Invocator's uncompromising style on this release that holds the pieces together
and makes Excursion Demise a strong album with some rude charm. After
all, I've found myself giving this one more spins than one might expect based
on the initial impression only.
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1. Through The Nether To The Sun
2. From My Skull It Rains
3. Desert Sands
4. Condition Critical
5. Breed Of Sin
6. Doomed To Be
7. Lost At Birth
8. Land Of Misery
9. The Afterbirth
10. Weave The Apocalypse
While Weave The Apocalypse is essentially different from Invocator's
debut, the result is perfectly convincing in its own right, with an even more
emphasized musical vision and style. Compared to its predecessor this album is
heavier and not so fast anymore. At this point Invocator's sound had quite
clearly become one of the nineties, something that makes a notable distinction
from most other albums here. With a more compact and mature style than before,
these tracks are some of the heaviest you can find, and they feature some
totally stupendous riffs. Although Excursion Demise had a distinctive
style of its own, Weave The Apocalypse got a definite edge over it due
to the more original and innovative sound. It's albums like this that make it
worth wading through the mass of more average recordings.
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1. The Metallian
2. Sinner
3. Black Mass
4. The Church Of The Lost Souls
5. Hunter In Chains
6. Rush Of Power
7. Legions Of Evil
8. Wife Of The Devil
9. Nightmare
10. Heavy Metal Soldiers
Iron Angel deserves an honorable mention already for having been one of the
earliest German speed/thrash metal bands in the eighties. Not only that, but
the band's debut is a classic one in its own right. From today's perspective,
Hellish Crossfire has even a surprisingly good production with a very
heavy and thick sound. The songs are fast and heavy stompers, backed up by
nasty vocals and a good deal of catchy riffs that make the whole thing a
memorable listening experience. This album really has some great old-fashioned
appeal which many of the newer releases out there lack. On the other hand,
some sense of nostalgia is certainly needed to be able to bear with such
examples of cheesiness as Heavy Metal Soldiers. But even with some
apparent signs of its old age starting to show up, Hellish Crossfire
has a lot of good points and easily remains one of the better releases from
the early years of the thrash metal genre.
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1. Winds Of War
2. Metalstorm
3. Son Of A Bitch
4. Vicious
5. Born To Rock
6. Fight For Your Life
7. Stronger Than Steel
8. Sea Of Flames
9. Creatures Of Destruction
10. Back To The Silence
Iron Angel's second release turned out to be somewhat less focused than
Hellish Crossfire. In comparison, Winds Of War is not quite as
heavy or energetic, and while the band's distinctive sound (especially
considering the vocals) is still there, it doesn't fully compensate for the
shortcomings. In particular, the increased tendencies towards more traditional
heavy metal make this album a slight disappointment. Sure, tracks like Son
Of A Bitch and Born To Rock are uplifting (and utterly cheesy)
pieces, but it is not old hard rock we are supposed to get here. With only a
couple of tracks approaching the previous intensity, the result is unavoidably
a bit lacking. Fans of old eighties metal regardless of the genre will
probably still find this one interesting, it is just not as strong and
consistent as Hellish Crossfire.
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1. Getting The Most Out Of Your Extinction
2. Neurotica
3. World War Three (Crack Party Weekend)
4. Mechanized Emotions
5. Equilibrium
6. Cyborg
7. Contusions
8. White Plague
9. Inheritance
10. Intermission
Every now and then a musical genre could use a good kick to avoid stagnation,
and Ironchrist's Getting The Most Out Of Your Extinction is one of
those albums that can deliver it. While this release has a certain hardcoreish
tinge, it actually works for the benefit of the whole thing. The absolutely
shredding guitar sound is little short of perfect, and in terms of thrashing
out these songs just put many others to shame. Despite a notably wild
attitude, Ironchrist's music is far from simplistic - in fact, there are
touches of variety, including two fully instrumental pieces, that make this
album rival even the productions of some officially more technical thrash
metal bands for good. Most important of all, the music is rarely dull in the
slightest. Getting The Most Out Of Your Extinction may be a less known
chapter in the history of thrash metal, but it is worth the time and effort to
check it out.
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