SOOTHSAYER - Have A Good Time ('89)

Quebec's Soothsayer were one of the most original, energetic, fun and underrated crossover thrash bands of the 80's; definitely one of my favorites. Think for a sec about Metallica's "Kill Em All", Gammacide's "Victims Of Science", DRI's "Crossover" and everything Suicidal Tendencies did in the 80's, throw that all in a blender and up the speed and quirkiness factor times a few and you sort of have Soothsayer's debut full length. This is hard for me to write about because even though you can hear elements of all of those in their sound, there's so much they put into this album that I struggle to do them justice. There's songs about violence at shows, world peace, zits, flies, baseball, ET (yes, Spielberg's ET) and everything under the sun - they didn't take themselves too seriously, which was both a blessing and a hindrance, because they sounded awesome when they got down to their game. Their English also wasn't top notch, but I think it added to their quirkiness.

There's still so much I could say about this album - I'm going to instead mention that Soothsayer played a reunion show in Montreal in August 07 and did not miss a single beat - they broke up shortly after the release of this album, and after all these years came back and played a perfect set - the singer sprinted from one end of the stage to the other as I took part in one of the greatest circle pits I've ever been in. Great, great times.

Their 1986 "To Be A Real Terrorist" demo is at least as well regarded, and is faster and more raw than the album in question, but I chose not to review it as it doesn't match this album's personality and memorability. In '86 Pleasure To Kill press shoots, you can see one of the Kreator guys wearing a Soothsayer shirt - so you could say it was influential.

Upload link: http://www.mediafire.com/?m2zjxnmtzum

Tracklist:
1. Free Violence
2. Dig
3. Buzz Fly
4. The Game I
5. 101
6. Go Team Go
7. E.T.
8. The Game II
9. Pimple Sprayer
10. Together To Make A World
11. Changes
12. Rock'N'Roll Forever

"Look now there's some bad guys trying to take control
Maybe it's just to be like a great macho,
Please don't pay attention
Just stay away from them
They'll feel so stupid alone, feel so frustrated inside
And we'll still have a good time"

BROCAS HELM - Into Battle ('84)

This is one of the most legendary cult heavy metal bands to ever come out of the US. In the early 80's when the British explosion was happening, very few bands in America were carrying the torch of true epic heavy metal, yet these guys took what the Brits were doing and expanded upon it doubly with stunning technicality and prog rock level songwriting. Imagine the first couple Maiden records, speed them up times two, up the chops, sacrifice some melody and inject them with free jazz on acid, and you sort of have Brocas Helm. The craziest thing is that after all these years this band has gotten back together and made an album (came out in 05 I think?) that is ON PAR with Into Battle - check that one out eventually too, but first go with the essential classic and let these 10 tracks of madness tear apart your speakers. This piece of music is boner city for me. The only thing that brings it down in my eyes is that subpar cover - all those epic fantasy album covers of the 80's and one of the best of the era gets a brushed text plate??

Tracklist:
1. Metallic Fury
2. Into Battle
3. Here To Rock
4. Beneath A Haunted Moon
5. Warriors Of The Dark
6. Preludious
7. Ravenwreck
8. Dark Rider
9. Night Siege
10. Into The Ithilstone

Upload link: http://www.mediafire.com/?wxjzly1mmyi


"Now lurking near the Eastern gate
I hold a crystal blade
It's edges greened with venom stain
It's orc-hilt pitted jade

I feel his will gush through my brain
In endless waves of gore
Yet, still the question breathes within
Who am I waiting for?"

DEMOLITION HAMMER - Epidemic Of Violence ('92)

I suppose I'm starting off this thrash blog with the most extreme albums first, because Demollition Hammer was possibly the most brutal thrash band to ever exist. Besides being up high in the speed register, the production on this monster is like the wall of bricks that graces the album cover, and their cheesy name suits them fine. The vocals are pissed as hell, and the drums are like machine gun fire. There's seriously a song on the album about volcanic eruptions... besides the flowery topics of cannibalism, human dissection, extreme misanthropy, and abortive homicide worthy of death metal albums... I'd say the lyrics in their venomous rage are almost as sweet as the album itself. Besides the extreme nature of the music, overall the material showcases some serious tightness and an attention to detail, there's good riffs all around which might get overlooked in light of the music's intensity. This band is one of my faves of all, one of those bands I try to show to everyone and I don't see that changing.

These dudes hailed from good old NYC and split up in the mid 90's.

tracklist:

1. Skull Fracturing Nightmare
2. Human Dissection
3. Pyroclastic Annihilation
4. Envenomed
5. Carnivorous Obsession
6. Orgy of Destruction
7. Epidemic of Violence
8. Omnivore
9. Aborticide

upload link: http://www.mediafire.com/?9ymtbxcic1j

Internal organs severely ruptured from
Infinite barrage of sledgehammer blows
A slashing maw
Immense bite radius
Piscatory savagery
Mob feeding pattern
Fierce competition for the sparse
Remains of a carcass torn to shreds
Perditious abomination

ATTOMICA - Disturbing The Noise ('91)

I first heard this in the car of Russel from Vulcan (mass props for this, sir!!) at Maryland Deathfest '07, on absolute full blast volume, and I thought the car would either explode or grow rocket boosters. This is easily one of the tightest, fastest thrash albums of all time. Earlier Attomica was sloppy, old Sepultura/Sarcofago sounding primitive thrash - which makes sense, as they're from Brazil - that bordered on black metal and had the occasional hyper fast blast beat. This album still carries a Sepultura comparison, but think "Beneath The Remains" on overdrive, or Slaughter's "Strappado" if it sounded crystal clear and was even faster, plus "Reign In Blood" thrown in for good measure. The drumming on the fast parts of this album exceeds the speeds of most grindcore bands. The vocals are a mid-to-low range bark and somewhat hardcore-sounding, remniscient of the aforementioned Slaughter (of course we're talking about the Canadian legends... I'll put them up in the future). Unfortunately the rest of the album does not match up to the first 3 tracks, but when you're looking for something to totally bludgeon you and have no care for melody or emotion, this is what you should pull out.

tracklist:
01. Ways Of Death
02. The Chainsaw
03. Deathraiser
04. Violence And Terror
05. Blood
06. From Beyond
07. Forbidden Hate

upload link: http://www.mediafire.com/?a9yry0jbwjz

CARNIVORE - Carnivore ('85)

I've been playing the shit out of this album since I discovered it a couple months ago, which apparently was way, way too late because it's become one of my favorites. Carnivore is the pre-Type O Negative band of Peter Steele, and my god is it heavy. Peter has this kind of double-layered "bellow of Satan" voice on this release and the lyrics he spews cover cannibalism, eating pussy, male supremacy, world wars, destruction of god and more, in a post-apocalyptic world that came from a dream of his. The music sounds kinda like Black Sabbath meets Sodom with the heaviness turned on overdrive... really though, there were no other bands that sounded like this album. Most importantly I feel this album has clout, it has muscle, and hit has power. There's also a little hint of Type O in the clean break on "Male Supremacy", and there's a gospel choir in "God Is Dead" along with cowbell and what seems to be classical acoustic. If you like this one, also pick up the followup "Retaliation" which is like this album but more crossover thrash style. from Brooklyn. VICIOUS.

tracklisting:
1: Predator
2: Carnivore
3: Male Supremacy
4: Armageddon
5: Legion Of Doom
6: God Is Dead
7: Thermonuclear Warrior
8: World Wars III and IV

upload link: http://www.mediafire.com/?3mhil3icjmo

"I sense that living human beings dwell below my feet
an important source of protein, you are what you eat
post Armageddon, neo-barbaric, the nuclear warriors do battle
to satiate our hunger, we breed human beings as cattle "

UPLOADZ!

Here is a collection of uploads from my last post. Read said post for info on each album. These are in alphabetical order and I probably should do multiple reviews in that format from now on. For the time being, I'm gonna try Mediafire, because they don't have download limits.

Aggression - The Full Treatment
http://www.mediafire.com/?eck8v5tgxf3

Agressor - Neverending Destiny
http://www.mediafire.com/?6o1xda7htji

Arson Anthem - Arson Anthem
http://www.mediafire.com/?driy1ymstcy

Cerebral Fix - Tower Of Spite
http://www.mediafire.com/?2xb3rxty2bd

Epidemic - Decameron
http://www.mediafire.com/?0dgs42n1mtz

Protector - A Shedding Of Skin
http://www.mediafire.com/?emucb0mkotu

Sacrifice - Forward To Termination
http://www.mediafire.com/?2mfzxozxy2r

Mean Man's Dream will get added soon. enjoy.

ALBUMS YOU SHOULD CHECK OUT.

First post of the new blog! Here's some albums you should all check out, hopefully I'll have a few uploads sooner than later.

mostly vicious nasty thrash metal, also some not-so-vicious thrash and a couple other tidbits, but mostly things that sound like Sadus/Slayer. this is stuff I've heard in the past month or so.


Protector - A Shedding Of Skin ('91) - a vicious slab of brutal death/thrash, with death growls, thrash rasps and even some wierd Macabre-esque quirks in there, straightforward super fast riffing and drumming in the vein of Sadus, Devastation, Tapping The Vein-era Sodom, etc. sounds fuckin' schizophrenic. these dudes have been around forever. from Germany, of course.


Epidemic - Decameron ('92)- HOLY FUCK. Fastest thrash band I have heard in at least a month or two, and for me that means a lot. Near-grindcore drumming, Sadus/Dark Angel style lightspeed thrash which is probably my favorite kind. Exhumed has covered these guys before, I can see them making their way up the ladder in future playlists. highly recommended. Bay Area I think?


Agressor - Neverending Destiny ('90) - I can see this getting shit on for being a little repetitive and samey, but yeah, similar to the above mentioned bands, like Sodom's "Persecution Mania" but tossed in a tornado and ran on hyperspeed. one of the only decent thrash bands from France.


Pyracanda - Two Sides Of A Coin ('90) - look at that fucking album cover. I really, really wanted this to be the most venomous thing ever and blow my socks off, but I suppose it sounds like Anthrax/Overkill/mid period Exodus but less talented. decent Bay Area sounding thrash that's somewhat on the light side. Germanz.


Sacrifice - Forward To Termination ('87) - sounds EXACTLY, EXACTLY like 80's Destruction but without the shitty production. so if you always wanted to like Destruction more than you did, check out Sacrifice. maybe throw some Dark Angel in there and you have this Canadian band to a tee.


Schizo - Main Frame Collapse ('88) - ass production, but decent enough to overlook once you start listening to it - fast Italian thrash that sort of sounds like a less nasty Necrodeath (vocals are very similar especially), maybe a little Sarcofago in there because the drums are very methodical and pounding, also blast beats.


Aggression - The Full Treatment ('87) - this is an interesting album... it's very crossoverish but much darker than the norm for this genre. It's got that early Rigor Mortis and Sacred Reich feel but a lot more raw and sorta hardcore-ish at times, and gets insanely fast. production is REALLY ass and changes between tracks, but cool. from good old Canadia.


Cerebral Fix - Tower Of Spite ('90) - I have been listening to this for like 2 weeks now and it still hasn't sunk in with me - very dark and doomy UK thrash metal that's also pretty dry, sort of like Hexenhaus if you've heard them... the less informed might compare them to a more mature, denser Destruction with some nasty Hellhammer riffs. I'm proud I found it.


Gore - Mean Man's Dream ('87) - one of the most different albums I've ever heard. what the fuck. it's a long album full of instrumental atonal shit that sounds like Swans but more metal. listening to this album through, loudly, is like having a chainsaw dance on your desk methodically for an hour.


Arson Anthem - Arson Anthem ('07) - only new thing I'm including in this post - FUCKING FUCKING RULES, man this is good. imagine Negative Approach and Void and Heresy with Mike Williams on vocals. Phil is an interesting guitarist and you can hear his inexperience, Hank III can drum pretty damn fast for being a country singer. these guys pulled it off right and I hope they make more good stuff cause this debut's only 11 minutes long (8 songs).