1. From This Day Forward 2. Fiction Of Veracity 3. Droidomized 4. Imminent Regenerator 5. It Should Have Stayed Unreal 6. Access To The Acropolis 7. Chronocraze

Obliveon's From This Day Forward is an original listening experience. Simplest described as technical thrash metal from Canada, this album consists of intriguing song patterns that initially sound hard to adopt but gradually grow on you. The songs are far from simplistic and possess more than a fair deal of variety although a careless listener can be in a serious danger of getting lost in the complex approach. The low-key vocals border on monotonous and act as a bringer of balance, but they do not really add to the music otherwise. While the outcome is definitely quite original, at times you cannot avoid some kind of a Voivod-ish feel even though the style of Obliveon's songwriting is more consistent and not as restless. Almost meditative, somewhat aimless songs like Fiction Of Veracity and It Should Have Stayed Unreal pretty much summarize this album. Whether the result is really worth it or not, it cannot be denied that From This Day Forward follows a route of its own unlike most other releases out there.

1. Damnation 2. Onslaught (Power From Hell) 3. Thermonuclear Devastation 4. Skull Crusher 1 5. Lord Of Evil 6. Death Metal 7. Angels Of Death 8. The Devils Legion 9. Steel Meets Steel 10. Skullcrusher 2 11. Witch Hunt 12. Mighty Empress

Onslaught were among the oldest British thrash metal bands though not necessarily the best known. The band's debut Power From Hell sounds even surprisingly finished and focused for such an early release. The production is simply ultra-heavy and the tracks have a particularly gritty feel to them. There's some overly satanic imagery in lyrics, very much in the same vein as on the early Slayer and Possessed albums. Most of the time the vocals have a definite hardcore-ish edge which gives this album a slightly peculiar feel. The music is quite consistent and convincing if somewhat undistinctive on the whole. Still, Onslaught's attack is undeniably strong here. Being one of the heavier early thrash metal albums, Power From Hell has some additional credibility even though the result is not quite as memorable as with some other early bands.

1. Let There Be Death 2. Metal Forces 3. Fight With The Beast 4. Demoniac 5. Flame Of The Antichrist 6. Contract In Blood 7. Thrash Till The Death

Onslaught's second album was quite similar to their debut in both good and bad. The Force is about as heavy as Power From Hell though possibly a bit more oriented towards more ordinary thrash metal, especially considering some changes in the vocal style due to a new vocalist. This album features a very heavy and dark sound, vocals being a mix of normal grunts and occasional high-pitched screams. Musically it is not too remarkable as most tracks sound a bit dull, even dumb at times. Granted, there's a decent amount of aggression involved but somehow the final touch is always missing. With a little more focused and vivid execution the result might have been more convincing than it is now.

1. Asylum 2. In Search Of Sanity 3. Shellshock 4. Lightning War 5. Let There Be Rock 6. Blood Upon The Ice 7. Welcome To Dying 8. Powerplay 9. Confused

Onslaught's third release was remarkably different in style from the band's previous recordings. From the very beginning, In Search Of Sanity completely lacks the general grittiness of Power From Hell and The Force. Instead, the sound of this album is very clean and almost overproduced, which makes the music appear rather tame in comparison. The new vocalist Steve Grimmett was a good singer but on this release his polished vocals lack all aggression and energy. It seems that the band were trying to create something similar to Metallica's albums with their long, massive songs, but the result is far from impressive. The cover of AC/DC's Let There Be Rock is totally emotionless and in a way represents the general feel of this album very well. After all the work put into it, In Search Of Sanity is a surprisingly flat effort.

1. Burn 2. Killing Peace 3. Destroyer Of Worlds 4. Pain 5. A Prayer For The Dead 6. Tested To Destruction 7. Twisted Jesus 8. Planting Seeds Of Hate 9. Shock & Awe

Killing Peace marks Onslaught's return to active status with a noteworthy strong offering. The sound quality shows what can be done with up-to-date facilities, and the resulting production is plain excellent - you can hardly find better these days. Despite obvious technical advantages this album still owes a great deal to the band's traditions, with some new kind of maturity, therefore it can be safely considered a logical but certainly way more advanced continuation of Onslaught's legacy. The band try hard to convince the listener with their output, maybe occasionally a bit too much as sometimes you cannot avoid a strained feel coming through, but as a whole this album is actually better than one might have expected. Onslaught simply never sounded as tight as here. While it is hardly the most novel approach around, Killing Peace features some of the most refined old-school thrash metal you can hear today.

1. Demised 2. Cause And Justice 3. Death Throttle 4. Over The Edge 5. Dehumanization 6. Dealt Hand 7. Betrayer 8. Immortal Deities 9. The Road

To start with the conclusions, Outburst's Aggression is not exactly a great album. The band's style can be pretty energetic but also way too generic and even dull more often than not. Although there may be some value in their seemingly carefree approach, some of the lighter tracks like Over The Edge end up sounding just dumb. Maybe this release could have turned out better if it weren't for the vocals that manage to sound awfully awkward from time to time and consequently make the songs appear somewhat amateurish. Aggression is not totally hopeless, maybe in specific situations it can serve some useful purpose, but a truly recommendable piece this is obviously not. In times like these, one can only wonder if albums like this are still really needed.

1. Just Believe In Me 2. Rusty Door 3. Fall To Disorder 4. The Day Of Rage 5. Voyage Of... 6. ...Clay Liner 7. The Truth 8. Great Blue 9. Bearing Down

Measured by typical genre antics, Outrage's The Great Blue is an adequate representation of speed/thrash metal from Japan. More intense than the band's initial, not so keenly speed-oriented recordings, it is still far from the most frantic performances, but the music flows not in a bad way. In fact, you could say that Outrage had a lot more genuine style than some of their colleagues. Compared to the sufficiently energetic first few tracks, the second half of the album tends to give a bit of a lackluster impression, though you cannot really blame the band for giving it a fair try. The feel of The Great Blue may sometimes bear an occasional resemblance to some of the big names in the field, especially considering the vocals, but the package manages to avoid the most blatant direct references. At least it is a fair addition to the scene, just not the most striking album out there.

1. My Final Day 2. Madness 3. Follow 4. Wings 5. Sad Survivor 6. Visions 7. Veiled Sky 8. River 9. Fangs

The Final Day is somewhat more consistent than its predecessor, again featuring some well-done but not the most original or spirited speed/thrash metal. Songs with even moderately high tempo run pretty smoothly and with little interference, whereas the slowest parts can be pretty dull experiences to wade through. It's good for some light background music but does not really make the most authentic impression, quite the opposite. Outrage could have simply done better in the hard-hitting department, as now the result is rather superficial at best - the most intense bursts on The Final Day are easily noticeable but quite short. Let's just say that if you want to avoid falling asleep by listening to music, there are many other albums that are much more suitable for that purpose than this.

1. Middle East Terrorist 2. Massive Extermination 3. Aggressive Destroyer 4. Born Of Ignorance 5. Thrash Invasion 6. Die In Pain 7. Angels In Fire 8. Nuclear Killers Attack 9. P.A.T. (Underground Revolution)

A band like Overcast would have been fully at home in the thrash metal scene more than ten years prior to this release. Under The Face Of Chaos is like a run-through of some of the most essential elements that have been formulated in the genre over the long years. The riffs are more practical than catchy and effectively seem to escape memory even in the long run, but structurally there is not much to complain about. The songs flow at a varying pace, far from the most straightforward expression yet continuously making steady progress. On tracks like Nuclear Killers Attack the band's sound actually resembles Tankard, mainly due to a similar vocal tone. Strictly speaking Under The Face Of Chaos is not really inside the sector of keen interest, but in a random selection of albums it would hardly end up among the most disappointing ones.

1. Violence 2. The Zombie Factory 3. Dead Clowns 4. A Good Day To Die 5. Profit 6. Powerwish 7. The Healer 8. Beyond My Bad Dreams

As a band who started their career at the same time with Sepultura, Overdose were one of the better known Brazilian speed/thrash metal acts also outside their home country. Circus Of Death is one of the band's thrashiest releases with a good production and heavy, steady riffs throughout. The style is slightly less intense than on Sepultura or Korzus albums from the same era, for example, but it serves its purpose well enough. Actually the only major downside is that, despite the professional sound and heavy approach, most songs sound pretty samey and the album has few actual highlights. The most notable exception must be Violence, a vicious headbanging track that stands out of the more standard material. Some lack of character aside, Circus Of Death is a fair piece of thrash metal - not among the best in the genre but certainly not the worst of its kind either.

Note: Vinyl and CD releases of this album have a different track order and artwork.

1. Raise The Dead 2. Rotten To The Core 3. There's No Tomorrow 4. Second Son 5. Hammerhead 6. Feel The Fire 7. Blood And Iron 8. Kill At Command 9. Overkill 10. Sonic Reducer (bonus)

Overkill remain to be one of the best known thrash metal bands worldwide. Even today, Overkill's first album sounds simply refreshing. The production is rather unheavy, but the music is very powerful. Bobby "Blitz" Ellsworth is among the most distinguishable vocalists in the genre and his voice gave Overkill a unique identity from the very beginning. While the material on this debut is not yet very thrashy and most of the individual songs do not stand out too well (Rotten To The Core and Blood And Iron are some notable exceptions), Feel The Fire is a fairly strong release with a coherent and energetic feel. Although the differences between Overkill's early albums are not that big, this one is quite an entertaining release.

1. Deny The Cross 2. Wrecking Crew 3. Fear His Name 4. Use Your Head 5. Fatal If Swallowed 6. Powersurge 7. In Union We Stand 8. Electro-Violence 9. Overkill II (The Nightmare Continues)

Overkill's second release sounds essentially like Feel The Fire with a heavier production. The actual differences are very minor, but the band got the right attitude and it shows. The music is still not extremely thrashy, and a couple of songs have even some reminiscenses of traditional metal, In Union We Stand in particular is an amusing metal anthem. In comparison, Electro-Violence is one of the tightest (and funniest) tracks on this album. As a whole, Taking Over is another good, classic Overkill album with a familiar feel, not particularly better or worse than most of Overkill's other works.

1. Shred 2. Never Say Never 3. Hello From The Gutter 4. Mad Gone World 5. Brainfade 6. Drunken Wisdom 7. End Of The Line 8. Head First 9. Overkill III (Under The Influence)

For Under The Influence Overkill's sound got slightly more thrashy than on the band's previous efforts. The production is sharp and crisp, and this time Blitz sounds particularly nasty with his high-pitched voice. Of the first three Overkill releases, this one has probably the most refined Overkill sound and feel. The song structures are such that they don't really stick to your head immediately, instead the whole album feels rather uniform and effective. Though not overly distinctive, Under The Influence is quite a fine and solid Overkill release which still has some of its fresh sound left even when judged from today's perspective.

1. Time To Kill 2. Elimination 3. I Hate 4. Nothing To Die For 5. Playing With Spiders / Skullkrusher 6. Birth Of Tension 7. Who Tends The Fire 8. The Years Of Decay 9. E.vil N.ever D.ies

This album sure is a mixed bag. There are some of Overkill's best individual songs on this album, like Elimination, Nothing To Die For, and the thundering, diabolic E.vil N.ever D.ies that is like from another planet compared to the rest of the album. Unfortunately, the weaker songs here are some of Overkill's worst ever and almost sink the ship. The slow and overlong Skullkrusher drags like no other song before, and Who Tends The Fire and the balladish title track are almost equally bland and tired efforts. When the inferior tracks take up almost a half of the whole album length and the rest is pretty average except for the already mentioned couple of songs, the result is not too impressive. At least the overall sound is heavy and good even though the music leaves something to be desired.

1. Coma 2. Infectious 3. Blood Money 4. Thanks For Nothin' 5. Bare Bones 6. Horrorscope 7. New Machine 8. Frankenstein 9. Live Young, Die Free 10. Nice Day... For A Funeral 11. Soulitude

After a string of good but not exactly groundbreaking releases Overkill suddenly made an album that would put almost everything else in the scene to shame. Horrorscope is one of the best thrash metal albums of all time, a masterpiece that has quality written all over it. The production is wonderfully heavy and rich, and the music is the best from Overkill ever, with totally unmatched fast, intense songs full of dark, sinister overtones. Even the balladish Soulitude is brilliant, totally unlike the bland efforts on the previous album. Before this release Overkill had lost their longtime guitar player Bobby Gustafsson, but with two new guitarists the band sounded even better than before. I assure you, this thing is better than most of everything else out there. With Horrorscope, Overkill finally got it right where it really counts.

1. Where It Hurts 2. Fast Junkie 3. The Wait - New High In Lows 4. They Eat Their Young 5. What's Your Problem 6. Under One 7. Supersonic Hate 8. R.I.P. (Undone) 9. Up To Zero 10. Bastard Nation 11. Gasoline Dream

In 1994 it was unlikely to expect anything remarkable from a new Overkill album, especially after their infamous initial slip to groove metal with I Hear Black. Even more enjoyable it was to find that W.F.O. really delivered the goods again. Much like Slayer's Divine Intervention released in the very same year, Overkill's comeback was a fine return to form despite some minor hints of groove still remaining. The band's approach on this album is rather basic but generally more refined and effective than on older releases. The production is solid and heavy, and the only minor nitpick is that the bass guitar sounds almost overproduced at first though one soon gets used to it. Although it does not present any great progression over the past releases, W.F.O. is one of Overkill's more consistent and balanced albums.

1. Thunderhead 2. Bleed Me 3. What I'm Missin' 4. Death Comes Out To Play 5. Let It Burn 6. I, Hurricane 7. Left Hand Man 8. Blown Away 9. My Name Is Pain 10. Can't Kill A Dead Man

After W.F.O. Overkill's musical path turned to a seriously groove hampered direction for many years, mostly to the great annoyance of thrash metal purists. In this sense Bloodletting was a noticeable return to thrashier grounds, and fairly good at that. Except for a couple of more groove-ridden tracks, this album features powerful thrash metal in the traditional Overkill vein. The overall sound is quite awesome, very heavy and stomping, and Blitz is still in top-form on vocals. The songs could be generally more interesting though, now many of them sound alike, even dull at times, and the riffs tend to lack a distinctive factor. The finest thrashers like Thunderhead and Death Comes Out To Play could be re-incarnations of nastiness, but as a whole this album would benefit from catchier riffs. Despite some criticism, Bloodletting is not a bad demonstration at all, but it does not quite compare to the better old Overkill recordings either.

1. Devil By The Tail 2. Damned 3. No Lights 4. The One 5. Crystal Clear 6. The Sound Of Dying 7. Until I Die 8. Struck Down 9. Unholy 10. I Rise

Killbox 13 featured no major deviations from the style established on Bloodletting. It's not the fastest or most extreme stuff anymore, but you immediately recognize Overkill when you hear even a short snippet from this album. Pounding thrash metal with some small tasty variations is what the band kept on delivering also here. As the only major exception from the rule, Crystal Clear is a blatant groove track and easily skippable as such - the others are way more listenable than that. By Overkill's standards the material is pretty typical, in other words, most songs are rather effective in a basic way but classics you will not find here. Therefore quite the same kind of classification applies to Killbox 13 as to Bloodletting, and while the album on the whole is perhaps a bit more memorable, the final result is only equally satisfactory at best.

1. Infection 2. Within Suffering 3. Chemically Exposed 4. Repressed Hostility 5. Suppression 6. All That Remains 7. Chaos Incarnate 8. Under The Skin 9. Abduction Of Life

Certainly one of the less known acts from Canada, Overthrow were in the more frantic end of the thrash metal spectrum. Within Suffering sometimes reminds me of D.B.C. on their debut album, with a similar style of rough and terse thrash. The songs are short and rapid bursts that don't waste too much time on details. Of course the result is unavoidably somewhat one-dimensional and there's not too much emphasis on originality, but at least this kind of relentless hammering is not too boring either. With its rough charm this album is one of those energy blasts that you might play in the background just for the feel of it. While Within Suffering does not exactly have a genuine gimmick of its own, it manages to gain some positive response with its strong attitude alone.