Lockdown to the Demons! Top 10 Overlooked Thrash Highlights

The following is a pretty unapologetically mammoth entry and I salute anyone who actually makes it through to the end. I assure you, if you do, your knowledge and appreciation of heavy music will be enriched beyond your wildest delights and hopefully provide for a good 10 hours’ worth of listening pleasure during lockdown. I’m unapologetic because writing this was just plain fun and fulfils every exacerbating nerd tendency I have for my second love after hardcore punk…thrash metal. This list is by no means a ‘TOP 10 OF THE MOST UNDERRATED THRASH GEMS OF ALL TIME’ article in the same way so many YouTube compilations like to squirt out their entries in a 10-minute long montage. The intention is just to shed some light on records that haven’t already been brought back into the village square inhabited by subgenre adorers. It is for this reason that I have purposely not included various pile driving treasures, as I believe someone, somewhere has already done those records justice and I wouldn’t want to harp on where my contributions would add nothing of merit. Now, let’s go DOWN TO THE DEMONS…

10. Laaz Rockit ‘Annihilation Principle’ – I’d seen this record mentioned a fair few times on forums and related YouTube videos but couldn’t help give in to superficial tendencies and brush Laaz Rockit aside for many years. This was for three reasons. 1. Any name with umlauts on any of the letters just makes me think of bad (as oppose to good) hair metal. 2. The god-awful artwork; why is a Gremlin on some acid induced trip concocting Polyjuice potion for Harry and his mates on the front of a balls to the wall thrash metal record? 3. “Rockit” makes me think of Rockets which makes me laugh. Maybe this was the point of choosing a name like this and I’m actually the fool? Well I definitely was a fool for a long time because this record quite simply rocks! There are absolutely no punches pulled on Annihilation Principle and after giving a skimming half listen to Laaz Rockit’s previous records, it pretty much sounds like these guys worked out that metal could sound as hard as a concrete support beam being chucked out of the fourth floor of an office block if they just injected some much needed balls.

This is definitely the most ignorant album on this list and in the shortest, most microcosmic reference-point description possible, is essentially Leeway’s ‘Desperate Measures’ with all the intelligence sucked out and replaced with SOD’s knuckle dragging savagery without any of the tongue-in-cheek nuance. The production job sets a template that Chris Williamson may have paid more than keen attention to in exhilarating a chunkiness not at all that dissimilar to Cro-Mags’ ‘Best Wishes’ or any other metallic hardcore record coming out of New York in the late 80s/early 90s. It sounds like producer Roy Rowland wanted to capture the new found aggression Laaz Rockit would display on Annihilation Principle and just so happened to do it in the exact same way producers on the opposite side of the country would do in the New York hardcore scene. It seems apparent to me this change in sound comes from lessons learned in punk which the band’s influences were obviously rooted in, having included a stellar cover of San Fran legends, Dead Kennedys’ ‘Holiday in Cambodia’ on the track listing.

Each riff is designed to be simple and head bangingly catchy, nothing more, nothing less. The riff writing delivers a definite Ian Scott-style rhythmic assault which is set about on almost every song, only pausing for the occasional acoustic/clean section. The band capitalises on dynamics for maximum impact in exchange for anything cunningly brilliant or harmonically satisfying that to be honest, works a treat for this West Coast outfit.  

There is nothing that will reveal itself in spellbinding ascendance on repeated listens of Annihilation Principle as the prime objective of this album is to serve as an enjoyable battering ram. The only interesting thought I have to part with on finishing with this record is that it strikes me as one of the few thrash LPs still paid attention to by hardcore kids upon its release in 1989 and may have been the basis for many riffs written going forward into the 90s (the opening riff to the whole album sounds suspiciously similar to No Warning’s ‘Behind These Walls’).

Best Songs: “Fire in the Hole”, “Chain of Fools”, “Mirror to Madness”

9. Dark Angel ‘Leave Scars’ – I distinctly remember a conversation I had with equal thrash enthusiast and mastermind behind straight edge outfit Violent Reaction, Tom Pimlott regarding modern day thrash’s obsession with the reverb knob. Often it seems that a reverb drenched orchestral drum sound that bleeds out everywhere onto the other instruments is the production suit of choice for many contemporary thrashers today (see Power Trip’s 'Manifest Decimation' for exactly what I’m talking about). One thing that stuck with me from that conversation was when actually pressed, neither myself nor Tom could fathom which of the major thrash records had led to this intentionally stylistic production choice that was surely picked up from a bag of well-read historic reference points. The Big Four and those surrounding them would of course employ dextrose application of reverb but only in an overall balance of masterful thrash production as seen on Hell Awaits, Ride the Lightning and many others. I now present to you the pinnacle trendsetting culprit in all their echoing glory, the mighty Dark Angel with their third effort ‘Leave Scars’.

Dark Angel to me are probably what Testament are to most fan’s “fifth addition” to the big four in the sense of possessing all the musical chops, precision, melody (or lack thereof) and grandeur equal to their metal thrashing mad brethren but fell short of a title shot for one reason or another. Metaphorically, I often envisage the 80s as a race when metal is concerned. Every band is desperately trying to forge a unique and diverging sound in this complete metallic explosion in order to set them apart from the pack and be blasted into commercial stardom. Metallica are of course the anthemic originators to harness the NWOBHM sound into a template copied by almost everyone post-1984. Megadeth is the evil little brother (or older brother depending on how you look at Mustaine’s writing credits) of Metallica and takes all the technical prowess to the next dimension. Slayer were the embodiment of all the originating darker Black Metal influences found in the NWOBHM movement, creating the OG beast from hell and Anthrax…let’s just say they’re a good time (I LOVE Anthrax by the way, this is no dis)! Approaching 1986, every thrash act knew that this had to be the year that their magnum opus would be released and in a collateral clash of leather, Nike high-tops and Budweiser, the dust would settle and the genre’s true innovators would be crowned. This is where Dark Angel come in and how they lost the final bout to Slayer who would take their rightful place among the Big Four under the ‘kings of the sinister and the occult’ job opening. Everything about Dark Angel’s music matches Slayer, its broodingly macabre; runs at break neck speed whilst still being able to retain the catchiness required of master musicians.

‘Leave Scars’ does right everything that the group’s own 1986 offering, ‘Darkness Descends’ did wrong and is potentially how Darkness Descends should have sounded in order to penetrate into the mainstream. The songs on both records speak for themselves, all you have to do is stick on ‘The Burning of Sodom’ or ‘No One Answers’ to get a dose of just what level of sheer eviscerating intensity these guys were operating on, nothing short of what thrash metal should sound like, eh? To ascertain what the actual fuck is going on throughout DsDs is something akin to desperately cleaning dry mud of your favourite trainers; a task no one wants to undertake but once you finish, you realise why it was worth starting. What is so gleaming about DsDs is concealed under a cascading waterfall of distorted and reverberant production choices that will leave most listeners glossing over the skill blistering through each player’s finger tips on the record. ‘Leave Scars’ refuses to make the same mistake again whilst simultaneously acknowledging that the band is at home on the less clean side of the production wheel. Clarity is the first comparative difference you’ll notice. Then you’ll be hit with a ton of bricks with just how much that clarity unleashes on the senses. Each riff, drum fill and vocal shriek much more than decipherable whilst still marred with that low-fi edge. What the sparingly applied distorted hiss does to this album is add that bit of mystery to each riff, making you want to play it again and again just to make sure you’re hitting the right fret on your practice guitar and at the same time working in perfect harmony with the performances to provide that untamed raw aggression. I’ve already talked too much about this band and maybe not enough about the record itself so I’d implore you to listen to both efforts mentioned in this section. My money from this point onward is on Leave Scars to give me that seat kicking rush that cleverly written and antagonistic thrash is sure to give.

Best songs: “No One Answers”, “Cauterization – Instrumental”, “The Promise of Agony”

8. Ripping Corpse ‘Dreaming with the Dead’ – Breaking the trend of every record appearing on this list is Ripping Corpse’s Dreaming with Dead. Perhaps harkening more on the death metal side of thrash with specialists from both the death and thrash genres arguing over which one takes precedent over records of a similar vein outputted in the early 90s (see Massacra, Demolition Hammer and Devastation). Whilst Ripping Corpse doesn’t exactly take after the aforementioned bands in terms of wounding double pedal barrages, it does provide more varied arrangements of dynamics that whilst all employed in some way by thrashers previously gone, were increasingly becoming greater staples of death metal as the new subgenre was developing.

This is Erik Rutan’s first outing and whatever you may think of his stints in Morbid Angel or his production work overall, you can see why heavy hitters in the metal world held his ideas in such high esteem when listening to DWTD. This is one of those records where you can tell every band member went home and thought long and hard about their respective parts as oppose to one key songwriter instructing each instrument to just keep up with their own frenzied Frankenstein creation. The guitar tone is probably what separates this band from the rest on the list and provides a strong argument for Ripping Corpse living in a death metal lair. There’s that artificial Metal Zone wall of distortion caked over both guitar tracks but applied masterfully, never taking away from the brilliance worked onto the frets of both Rutan and Shaune Kelley’s respective guitars. The record is also filled with sugar coatings of clever guitar overdubs that are mixed in perfectly with the core tracks to just add that bit of depth. The bass playing on this album is probably the most innovative on the whole list and one thing I love is a bassist who is always trying to think outside the box to complement both guitars and drums without doing some laughable mish mash of Mighty Boosh hitcher nonsense. Drummer, Brandon Thomas does some really slick work, winning the award for the best application of drumming technique. From clever gliding fills that swish over the snare and toms with light wrist work, all the way to grandiose single hits accompanying slam riffs. Thomas can do it all, never showing a single weakness throughout the whole duration of this album. Finishing on the meticulous detail each member put towards their time tracking, Scott Ruth does not disappoint on his unique vocal rasps. Ruth is probably the factor grounding the band’s sound back to thrash metal in the vocals sounding altogether very human compared to all the cookie monster performances that would perhaps ruin the whole death metal genre. Ruth is able to hit the Slayer style shrieks straight from just landing a fierce guttural low, all of which done using an S Club Seven ear piece microphone (this footage made me want to go out and buy one straight away for Lawful Killing).  

Dreaming with the Dead is definitely a deep cut that the mere mention of to anyone in the know will immediately light their eyes up in shared recognition of this lost relic. The biggest shame about this album is perhaps the brains behind it are more well-known than the record itself. However, this seems to only add to the feeling one gets when uncovering this gem that they have ascended in the ranks of metal Free Masonry. DWTD is the starting point to a genius career that for those who also adhere to similar greatness, understand straight away why this particular death/thrash schism is so standout and why it needs to be kept concealed away from the clamouring metal masses. RIPPING CORPSE ARE TOO POWERFUL.

Best Songs: “Sweetness”, “Anti-God”, “Rift of Hate”

7. Hirax ‘Raging Violence’ – For the love of all that gleans with such shining metallic radiance, this record is FAST. It is fast for today’s standards and holy shit it must have completely flummoxed listeners back in 1985. Hirax started out as a fairly run of the mill heavy metal quartet who shat out probably one of the best USA heavy metal demos ever, before what I can only think was through some sweat drenched midnight epiphany, increased their tempo by unholy proportions. I don’t know what possessed the group to go so bat shit mental on Raging Violence but whatever it was certainly did not present a completely unrecognisable jump from the demo. The style of the string picking, drumming and vocal delivery of Katon W. De Pena is still easily identifiable but just coked up all the way to the top of The Shard and back down again with pretty much no moment of reprieve for the whole course of the album.

This record is maybe the closest thing to hardcore punk that could be branded as a pure thrash metal album without dipping too much into the crossover section of the metal/hardcore Venn diagram. You can tell just by hearing the first incredible wail of De Pena that your eyebrows have been singed by heavy metal but it somehow felt like hardcore? The band is completely unhinged on this recording and is firing on all pistons to get everything they’d written out onto the desk before their session time ran out and that is why I love this record. Urgency covers every inch of this disc and is primitive in unleashing each desperate performance that reminds me of the moment when Bad Brains explained they only started playing fast because their drummer, Earl was having girl problems. There really is nothing overly engineered or intentional sounding about these tracks and it’s pretty much four guys on nothing but testosterone alone playing traditional USA heavy metal at machine gun peppering speed. What really causes something mythical about this record’s existence is the same shamanistic aura that the Void side of the Faith split possessed in having absolutely no one ever anticipate the influence Void would have on hardcore and metal. The fact Raging Violence just rages from start to finish with no conceited bravado or perhaps even self-awareness makes it a record that was likely to prompt many acts to up their speed. I can imagine Slayer having just released Hell Awaits, sticking this record on and thinking “How the fuck are these inferior kids down in Cypress playing so fast? We gotta show everyone who’s boss.” You can really hear where Reign in Blood perhaps garnered some of its influence from, just listen to “Bombs of Death” and tell me how this couldn’t fit right in on an album of RIB b-sides.   

This is a no holds barred album that should be flown right up above in the winds of the other great crossover flags except for reasons entirely of the inverse. Instead of taking the speed and aggression of hardcore to then jack it up to that next level using the technical heaviness of metal; Raging Violence is first and foremost a metal record that through the folly of youth is start to finish a freight train running well over its maximum capacity ready to be dislodged from the tracks at any second.

Best Songs: “Demon’s Evil Forces”, “Bombs of Death”, “Call of the Gods”

Footnote: Hirax's final record (before reforming), an EP called "Blasted In Bangkok" is just as good as RV and works as a definitive streamlined version of Raging Violence, just as raw but all the wiser. Check it HERE.

6. Uncle Slam ‘Will Work for Food’ – Ok, this is a pretty niche stream of consciousness I’m having so bear with me on this one. Ever wondered what it would be like if all the crazy loco reeling cast members of the original Suicidal Tendencies line up all joined forces and did a MENTAL thrash act that basically took all the best musical elements of the whole Suicidal movement without the OTT aesthetic? No? Thought not. If you hadn’t thought that before than I hope my convenient placing of this notion into your mind has got you excited to listen to Uncle Slam’s second and best album, ‘Will Work for Food’.

So, guitar player Jon Nelson - whom never actually played on any Suicidal album but toured for a few years and contributed various writing credits - teams up with OG ST drummer Amery Smith and guitar player Todd Moyer to form The Brood, releasing a self-titled album in 1986. This album is a criminally underrated hardcore record and sounds like a load of gang banging Latinos raised on Iron Maiden playing an extremely heavy metal take on hardcore. Very cool. Check it out HERE. Nelson leaves and The Brood become a three piece with Todd moving to vocals. They release a debut album under a new band name, Uncle Slam which does next to nothing for me - musically speaking - and regroup to analyse what went wrong and begin writing what will be an absolute belter.

Will Work for Food has a hilarious release date of 1993, insanely late for a crossover record of this nature which leads me to believe there was perhaps logistical difficulties in getting the album out. However, this by no means takes away from what a sledgehammer of an experience listening to these songs is. One thing you get the impression of when listening to all of these entries is that out of all the knife wielding; gang fighting and grave robbing hellish inhabitants of Southern Californian punk in the 1980s, the guys in Uncle Slam were some of the few who could really play music. Moyer flashes some serious incineration tactics on guitar, performing all the guitar tracks on the album including solos and is responsible for the majority of the writing credits. Singing and playing at the same time is NOT easy, believe me and Todd pulls this off with relative ease. Check out this 1990 live video where he simply does not miss a beat on the vocal or guitar front. Amery Smith is obviously a beast, his drumming on the ST s/t album is insane. Each drum hit on WWFF is very intentionally well thought out and non-erratic as expected from such a student of the hardcore drumming game (he must have had a crazy rack of toms which is pretty uncommon for crossover drummers as some of the fills go on forever).

The songs are a superb no thrills crossover experience with gang shouted vocal sections; dynamic tempo changes and repetitive bolstering riffs that cut themselves off just as they’re about to overstay their welcome. ‘Hangin’ in the Hood’ is prime example of what I mean and just blasts the ear drums with vocal lines that you’ll be singing under your breath for days in lockdown solitude whilst envisaging yourself vaulting over fences to duck out the way of fictional LAPD bullets shot straight out of 1983. Moyer just sounds meaner and meaner the more the record goes on and gives off an impression of being an extremely versatile musician who momentarily after packing up his guitar is off doing some nefarious shit with his Suicidal buddies.

Conclusion? This record is better than anything Suicidal Tendencies did after the self-titled and the reason for Uncle Slam probably never reaching similar commercial heights is probably due to their stringent focus on crafting ingenious songs and not on marketing themselves better as the unrelenting force that Suicidal Tendencies did. ST probably also did this better than any other metal or hardcore band to date so I’ll cut Uncle Slam some slack (I may do a whole article on how powerful ST’s music videos still are and how key they were to their success).

Best Songs: “Left for Dead”, “Hangin’ in the Hood”, “Face the Fight”

5. Num Skull ‘Ritually Abused’ – Right, so you’ve heard about all the underrated thrash metal gems of the late 80s getting flung around on various blog lists, Instagram posts and podcasts. Morbid Saint probably being the most notable out of this group but other acts like Devastation, Solstice and Demolition Hammer have also been dug out of collectors’ record cabinet tombs and resuscitated to the clamouring delight of glaring internet metalheads (like me). I give you the aptly named Num Skull and their unethically forgotten masterpiece, ‘Ritually Abused’.

I sort of feel slight sympathy with whoever was in Num Skull as it seems they really just fell short of everything needed to really have that x-factor. Imagine a metal scouting equivalent of that very same show, ‘The X-factor’ and imagine Num Skull emerge for their first audition. They definitely don’t have the star power looks and aren't bad looking enough to warrant sympathy from the judges. They aren’t from anywhere at all notable to raise any eyebrows or to have any trendy mates and there is nothing about the band’s name or artwork that screams “World Tour 1988” in embossed lettering on some glossy poster in a heaving record shop. The judges marvel at the talent on show in their performance but know that even if they pass them through to the next round, the quintet will just be voted off in rounds to come. Have I put you off this record yet? Did my analogy work? Well regardless of all that, if you just close your eyes and press play on Ritually Abused, you’ll feel abused by the fact no one has told you about this record until now.

·       Indecipherable riffs played near the speed of light? Check

·       A drummer who made every next-door neighbour move away after a matter of months due to his incessant clattering? Check

·       A singer who sounds like Ridley Scott’s Alien screaming through a conch horn? Check

·    Songs that are so viciously addictive that you’ll have to reserve replaying this album to a special treat only to be enjoyed rarely? Double check.

There’s nothing much more I can really say about how good this record is and will probably take the title thumbnail for this article purely because of how underrated it actually is. These guys sound like they were literally working on scheduling the funerals for every single B,C,D and E(!?) tier thrash band across the country with Ritually Abused being the soundtrack, only leaving the top ranking acts as their next target. Sadly, there wouldn’t be a next time as Num Skull’s only other record is a half-a-job attempt at death metal and lacks almost anything that would be redeeming about the band’s original sound. This is also probably why the freaks in Num Skull wouldn’t make it through much more of my fictional metal themed X-Factor thought experiment.

Why not higher on my list? Whilst I love gritty production, it has to be good quality gritty production and I feel like Num Skull just didn’t have the funds to burst through the limitations that the production job on Ritually Abused would set on the group’s ungodly performance. This is what undoubtedly makes the aforementioned contemporaries of Num Sull more accessible and I would encourage anyone to try that bit harder to get past the production on this record to unlock the sleeping dragon that lurks deep inside this LP.

Best Songs: “Ritually Abused”, “Friday’s Child”, “Kiss Me, Kill Me”

4. Blood Money ‘Red Raw and Bleeding’ – Ok, so I had to include a UK thrash act in here somewhere as I am someone who likes to champion music from their home nation. Perhaps to the untrained ear, Great Britain as a whole didn’t make too much of a ripple in the thrash pond, after all, the genre was birthed by our cousin’s interpretation of what we had previously been doing with metal and is why the subgenre of thrash reaped more cultural success and affluence over in the States. However, this is not to say the UK hasn’t breathed fresh life into sullen guitar wielding statues nor does our island stand with a huge tally of terrible and forgettable acts to its name. Quite the contrary, a smattering of acts held in the highest esteem by keen metalphiles are of Anglo origin: Onslaught, Deathwish, Xentrix, Sabbat, Sacrilege and English Dogs are all examples. However, the band I want to talk about reduces all of the above to mere greasy and stale slabs of potato stuck to the bottom of a fish and chip wrapper forever cast to the bins of unfinished takeaways. This finely caught, battered and fried delicacy is none other than Blood Money’s ‘Red, Raw and Bleeding’.

It makes sense that BM hail from Manchester, home of countless musical successes and it’s a damn shame Blood Money aren’t remembered for their contributions up there with the usual suspects mentioned when talking about Manchester’s music scene. This record is Bloody brilliant (pardon the pun) and using the briefest nutshell as possible, RR&B could be hailed as the Mancunian equivalent of Kill Em’ All. In my books, this record can go toe to toe with the combative rough and dirty approach Metallica injected into NWOBHM on their debut.

The absolute stand-out element of this record is the vocals, no ifs and no buts. Danny Foxx sores this record to new melodic heights by hitting notes of equal calibre to Bruce Dickinson but with bellowing depth that’ll leave the listener questioning what man of Celtic design could blissfully batter out hymns this rallying? I can only hope Mr Foxx is the guy on the far left of the picture included, as his voice definitely conjures up a giant, moustached, sword wielding brick shithouse from Manc without getting too homoerotic. I’ll be much let down if I find out the singer is in fact one of the scrawny dweebs pictured on the right! The guitars are charged with such a heavy overdrive due to actually having to fight to be heard over Foxx’s sweeping harmonies; you can almost feel how hard Gramie Dee is hitting his six strings. This is perfect execution of metal guitar tone engineering, sounding almost like an electric current when tremolo picking; crunching like a bag of X-Cut Walkers accidentally sat on in a school canteen when chugging and squealing like Babe the pig when hitting pinch harmonics. The rhythm section is for the most part do-what-it-says-on-the-tin and that’s not a negative! The drumming keeps the fury of the guitars and vocals going with no signs of letting up with an extra special use of the double kick to reach maximum head banging undulation on the chorus of ‘Metalyzed’. The song writing is of course the main component to shout about on this gem of British thrashery (not a word) and Blood Money demonstrate they can keep things interesting with every track. Every riff is crafted to stay in your head and never played too long to become tedious; each song is different from the last with the band never relying too heavily on the hallmarks of the genre to guide them to success. Oh no, Blood Money only harness the holy foundations of metal to put these fine compositions to tape.

This record is such a perfect display of everything I love about metal as a whole genre that I despair it might be too low on this list. What may have held Blood Money back was location and timing. Red Raw and Bleeding came to be released in 1986 and while most bands were defining cutting edge staples in the genre that would be copied for years to come, Blood Money produced a near perfect conundrum of sounds that were mastered by others some two or three years earlier. Surely this output would have fallen on deaf ears to those viciously climbing the metal ladder, let alone the fact the group wasn’t native to the hotbed where thrash was flourishing. I only hope that with much needed hindsight, this record can be appreciated for its jaw breaking extravagance in this modern era of rediscovery. 

Best Songs: “Metalyzed”, “N.Z.F.E.D.K.”, “Deathstiny”

3. Razor ‘Shotgun Justice’ – This will be the second entry in this list of a lesser talked about album from a more well-known ensemble. I put forward Razor’s best offering, ‘Shotgun Justice’. I just love Razor, what can I say? A few questionable records in the back catalogue of course (Custom Killing is a lesson in why self-indulgence when followed through to its full conclusion is abominable to say the least) but I’m sure most would agree Razor really stepped it up for the second time in their career with ‘Violent Restitution’. The aforementioned album undoubtedly rips and was definitely a fuck you to anyone who thought Razor were lying dead in a freezing ditch somewhere in Ontario after CK. Shotgun Justice continues the massacre left by the Soldiers of Fortune and despite departure of original vocalist, Sheepdog, Bob Reid provides a ferocious vocal performance sonically and lyrically (this album contains some of the best thrash metal lyrics printed to gloss). ‘Violence Condoned’ will launch anyone who’s ever put the blood, sweat and tears into some shitty DIY tour to be met with a promoter who can’t pay you, into a fit of hysterics:

We only had forty-five minutes Before we were to start our show

Our roadies had set up our gear

And we were (more than) ready to go

Then the owner of the bar came to see us

And he told us that we wouldn't get paid

The thrashers in the bar had to wonder why the show was delayed

Violence condoned

Cough up the dough

Just sensational! The well written concoction of tongue-in-cheek ironic lyrics dancing above the furnace of uber-seriousness themes continues throughout the whole record. This record actually made me read thrash metal lyrics which – confession - is something I NEVER do. The guitar work also picks up from where VR left off in a return to the “keep it simple stupid” mantra. Each riff on this album just robs you of every time you thought you’d written the hottest new take on the 80s thrash genre and leaves you screaming at yourself; “Why didn’t I think of that!?” Whenever you get this notion, it is always a sign of good musical fastening and the fact it seems so gracefully easy that you would have thought of it if you were around back then is demonstrative of why the record is so slick in composition. Facts are, you almost certainly wouldn’t have thought of these riffs, and that’s what makes them great: intricate simplicity. Drummer Rob Mills may as well be haemorrhaging amphetamine into every conceivable orifice for the consistent tempo pummelling that he subjects us to each time he hits a skin. His performance is the template for what thrash and crossover drums should sound like, played fast, simple when it needs to be but never afraid to drop unconventional fills and arrangements into the fray. Razor are a single guitar unit on Shotgun Justice which is of some novelty in thrash metal. Usually dual guitars are a staple in order to create thickness of intensity along with the ability for both guitars to diverge from each other to create harmony that is often heard within the genre. Razor manage to do all of this with just one axe and that is no easy feat. The mix is nice and clear and never alerts you to there being less than two guitarists with the bass sitting nice and central on top of the kick drum. Every instrument is given space to breath without compromising on aggression which time after time has proven to be the key to unlocking supreme production in heavy music (and perhaps all genres); a fine balancing of parameters so that no feature takes precedent over another.

To finish off, the word to sum up this Razor record is TOUGH and probably is in the top 5 toughest metal albums ever to be recorded. Just listen to the song ‘Brass Knuckles’ and you’ll know what I’m talking about - if the song title alone didn’t speak enough volumes. The vibe of the album spits of a band having rightfully reclaimed their place as an A-tier thrash act and ready to push some buttons with their first effort straight back from being on top of the pile. Murder in Miami and long live Razor!  

Best songs: “Violence Condoned”, “Stabbed in The Back”, “Meaning of Pain”

2. Znowhite ‘Act of God’ – If this album isn’t an act of divine omnipotence then I don’t know what is. It’s records like this that really make me want to buy more into the philosophical argument that the world was created via design: each minute fragment of nature is far, far too intricate to just have happened by chance. Like the cogs in a machine, meticulously grinding with such man-made vigour, each guitar chug, snare hit and vocal oration uttered on this album brings me one step closer to giving credibility to the many times defeated design argument. Maybe I should have just drawn a picture of the artwork in my second-year philosophy exam? 

Znowhite had been chugging away since 1982 on the speed metal circuit, having put out records quite early on in the US metal timeline for a band playing their initial style of fast-but-not-quite-thrash metal. The two early records aren’t exactly bad, in fact, quite sufficiently listenable for that style although much better artists are present for listening pleasure (see Blood Money, Violent Force, Warrant, Hirax demo etc.). This record marked a change to this Chicago based band of misfit’s sound and is a statement of founder, guitarist and soul songwriter, Ian Tafoya that would force his contemporaries to recognise his efforts on the thrashing mainstage.

This record is basically if you took the blueprint to Ride the Lightning, splattered it with King Diamond’s spare make up (and riffs) then got Sacrilege’s own Lynda Simpson to shriek a blinding vocal performance all over it after teaching her to actually sing. It’s quite obvious this record is the pure brainchild of Tafoya as it’s a guitarist’s paradise. The opening track is an instrumental of lead guitars duelling off against each other using beautifully synchronised solos and melodies with only bass guitar for backing rhythm. You know that a record with such a calm opening means you’re gonna get the absolute shit blasted out of you for 50 straight minutes as soon as the last second of serenading elapses. The guitars are aggressively pitched with a perfect balance of drive to crunch ratio resulting in a sound absolutely boundless without cancelling out the rhythm section. There’s also a particular way Tafoya plays that I can’t really describe, it’s like he so swiftly moves his left hand across the frets that a lot of the attack is subdued from each palm mute but without any aggression or presence taken away from the playing. Anyway, his song writing really is adroit and is filled with relentless blurs of rapid multi-chugging along with tri-harmonies that are sure to creep right up the spinal column of avid Dio fans. One thing I haven’t talked about too much in this list are solos. This is down to my rudimentary hardcore background causing the algebraic calculations going into solos sometimes falling upon deaf ears when I listen to so many metal records back to back. However, no matter what context I listen to Act of God, each solo is just so infectiously catchy and well thought out that I could probably sing every single one note for note on the whole album from memory.

Singer, Nicole Lee redefines what it means to be a female vocalist in this style of metal and might just be one of my favourite metal vocalists ever with the magic that got roared onto this record. Anthemic is probably the word to describe her vocal patterns and always manages to get the singalong adrenaline pumping. Often hard to do even by the best vocalists in thrash with so much else going on musically. Sonically the vocals are extremely punk in nature, oozing attitude and distain in the vein of 45 Grave’s Dinah Cancer but never dropping that dose of sweet harmony that makes each line so empowering. The bass and drums are good but nothing more to really be said. There are interesting bass lines on some of the tracks but nothing that is a deal breaker. The drums are played well, do everything right but don’t warrant any sort of extra special accolade.

All and all, this record ticks so many boxes for me. It’s completely underdog in nature even down to the horrendous artwork; the guitarists’ guitarist playing; the smack of frustration from plenty of band hardships and finally, is made up of three black guys and a girl from Chicago. Does it get any better? Not really, but as you’ll see from my number one, it sometimes does.

Best songs: ‘To the Last Breath’, ‘Thunderdome’, ‘Pure Blood’

1. Holy Terror ‘Mind Wars’ – The study technique applied when talking about underappreciated music is to analyse how music so good could be so unknown to people reasonably well acquainted with the genre in question. These days, instead of trumpeting “So and so band is great too, why haven’t you listened to them?!”, I will look for every little reason as to the faults in the band’s music that might stop avid fans from checking said band out or what factors worked to cap the group from reaching wider fame. Apart from realising that it’s not healthy to annoy people with my music opinions, there often is a blatant reason why your favourite underrated GOAT isn’t liked by more listeners and it’s probably best to conduct a self-assessment of the music before you wind up any fellow peers. Maybe that riff goes on just longer than most others would like? Maybe the vocals aren’t as catchy as you imagined them and maybe the songs just aren’t accessible enough to be liked on mass? Forcing oneself into doubt is an indispensable trait but when I reflect on Holy Terror’s divine intervention that is ‘Mind Wars’ all doubts are crushed into a million tiny shards.

Every inch of wax scratched with each incremented groove indicating the change of a song is a perfected lesson in the art of how to thrash in a way that is completely unique to Holy Terror. There is no appropriate comparison I can really make to sum up what you’ll be in for when setting your ears upon Mind Wars. In fact, I couldn’t even imagine the inverse, where I would use Holy Terror’s name in a comparison list when writing about another group. They really are just that stand out. There is something for everyone on this album: fast as fast could be verses; tension oozing build ups leading to earth shattering breakdowns; awesomely crafted tempo drops that are doom in nature; punk as fuck d-beats; ballad bashing vocal leads worthy of chart-topping glory; intelligently poetic lyrics and even an experimental gothic flare in the arrangements of the clean guitars.

I’m not going to go into a piece by piece review of the instruments or how purely fucking insurmountable Keith Deen’s vocal performance is as I think this will spoil what’ll be in store for you on this record. There is not much information on this band and that’s how I like it, just a masterpiece produced and never to be followed up. A perfect discography. Any master reveal or in-depth insight will only serve to ruin the extra-terrestrial zen beamed onto this disc and I cannot allow that to happen. The only other thing I will do upon finishing this article is prescribe Holy Terror’s debut and more primitive album ‘Terror and Submission’ to treat any trauma symptoms caused by Mind Wars. The most decimating manifestation that will run rampant on the human body is the ensuing of a never-ending trawl across the thrash metal desert to find a new fix that will give to you what no record other than Mind Wars will ever unleash on your system again…

Best Songs: The whole freakin’ thing.

RIP Keith Deen.

Honourable mentions:

1. Infernal Majesty – None Shall Defy
2. Exumer - Possessed By Fire 
3. Death Angel – The Ultra-Violence
4. Sadus – Chemical Exposure
5. Forced Entry – Uncertain Future