Obsessed by Cruelty is a bit of a weird album... On one hand you have In the Sign of Evil preceeding it, which is one of the more influential black metal albums (Is it good? Not so sure about that) and on the other you have Persecution Mania, not to mention Expurse of Sodomy which are both shining examples of riff-happy thrash metal. So where does Obsessed by Cruelty fit in? Pretty much right smack dab in the middle. This is neither true thrash nor true black. The sound is pretty lo-fi, the band is sloppy, the vocals are somewhere between a shout and a shriek, and everything kind of runs together into a jumbled mess of quasi-thrash riffs, lyrics about evil and such, and pounding drums, which are what you hear the most of throughout the album. The opening song, after the annoying, thankfully skippable intro is great, and is the one classic, enduring Sodom song, much like "Outbreak of Evil" on the previous EP. "Deathlike Silence" is a great, slightly primitive thrash song that kind of gets you excited for the rest of the album. Well, the rest of the album is a letdown. Onkel Tom should thank his stars for Frank Blackfire, otherwise Sodom probably would have faded into obscurity, pumping out more mindless slop like this. Honestly, if it weren't for "Deathlike Silence", and kind of "Proselytism Real", this would barely be worth owning. 1. Intro (The Rebirth) 2. Deathlike Silence 3. Brandish the Sceptre 4. Proselytism Real 5. Equinox 6. Obsessed by Cruelty 7. Fall of Majesty Town 8. Nuctemeron 9. Pretenders to the Throne 10. Witchhammer 11. Volcanic Slut Score: 5/10
The thing that immediately jumps out at you when you first spin Holy Moses' debut is Sabina Classen's absolutely shredded vocals. Up to this point, the only female thrash vocalist we've seen is Znowhite's Nicole Lee, who is a fine vocalist in her own right, but Classen is trying stuff that very few men have tried up to this point! I mean, this is 1986 and this chick sounds downright rabid at times! Unfortunately, the music accompanying Sabina's inhuman cries is not quite up to snuff. The music rarely rises above mid-paced, and unlike a lot of other German bands of the time, it's pretty melodic stuff too. In fact, there are times when an actual melodic vocalist would match the instrumentation much better than Classen's growls -- so much so that they sound almost comical at times. The riffing is really standard stuff for the most part, although there are some tasty leads thrown in from time to time. All in all, this album is only a must-own if you're a die-hard completist, because there are much better examples of thrash out there, like the band's next one. 1. Necropolis 2. Don't Mess Around With the Bitch 3. Devil's Dancer 4. Queen of Siam 5. Roadcrew 6. Walpurgisnight 7. Bursting Rest 8. Dear Little Friend 9. Torches of Hire Score: 4.5/10
This is Razor's third full-length, and fourth official release overall, and their sound really hasn't changed much over the course of their short career, except for the fact that they're stuck in full-speed ahead mode full time now. This is a problem. While there are good songs to be found, they all kind of blur into one because the speed and overall feel of each song is nearly identical. Not only that, but the drums are way too high in the mix. Every time M-Bro starts humping that ride cymbal, it drives me a little nuts. It's not all bad though, in fact this isn't a bad album at all, it's just that Razor's sound is starting to get a little stagnant at this point, even though they've gotten slightly more aggressive here with more tremolo riffs and mainly faster tempos. The star of Malicious Intent (other than Dave Carlo, who is the star of any Razor album) absolutely must be vocalist Sheepdog, who is truly starting to live up to his name, howling and growling like... a... dog. The problem with what Razor are doing at this point is that they aren't advancing their sound, while their peers are. Metallica, Slayer, Overkill, Possessed, Anthrax & Megadeth have all released at least one (arguably) landmark album. Razor has not. They've remained more or less the same since their 1984 EP and at this point seem in danger of being left behind. Of course, with the benefit of this being 2013 and not 1986, we know this isn't the case, but you know, like, humour me. 1. Tear Me To Pieces 2. Night Attack 3. Grindstone 4. Cage the Ragers 5. Malicious Intent 6. Rebel Onslaught 7. A.O.D. 8. Challenge the Eagles 9. Stand Before Kings 10. High Speed Metal 11. K.M.A. Score: 6.5/10
Exumer are a lot like a German Exodus circa 1985 -- ultra-aggressive thrash with an over-the-top vocalist who doesn't possess a whole lot in the way of real singing ability. It's easy to get swept up in the sheer speed of Exumer's attack here, and the band goes through riffs with reckless abandon -- which is part of the problem on this album. There are some really great fucking riffs here, but for the most part they just don't know how to put them together. In a lot of cases it seems like they've just hammered a lot of different riffs together that just don't want to fit. If Exumer possessed just a little more songwriting skill, this could really be one of the all-time greats. It's still a good album, and will get that head banging but it's not particularly memorable or iconic. 1. Possessed by Fire 2. Destructive Solution 3. Fallen Saint 4. A Mortal in Black 5. Sorrows of the Judgement 6. Xiron Darkstar 7. Reign of Sadness 8. Journey to Oblivion 9. Silent Death Score: 7/10
