Given that Possessed's first effort was one of the most extreme and brutal thrash metal releases ever, hopes must have been high for their sophomore effort. Presumably to the chagrin of many (some?) though, Larry LaLonde's dirty little secret seems to make a concerted effort to sound more like Metallica rather than Death on Beyond the Gates. While it's definitely not a bad thing to refine a sound to a desired goal, Seven Churches was such a revelation that this album can be seen as nothing but a disappointment. Is it an enjoyable listen? Of course it is. The overall tone is still oppressively heavy, with Jeff Becerra's barking vocals leading the way over the whirling guitars and pounding drums.
What's that I hear, though? Is that a hint of melody in the vocals, especially noticeable on "Phantasm"? Is that a riff that sounds like an early demo of "Trapped Under Ice" ("Tribulation")? The answer is yes. This is a band who has decided to reel themselves in, and let other bands blaze the trail to death metal, content to become an also-ran in the thrash metal genre.
I'm being harsh though. This is a good album, as far as thrash in 1986 goes, and probably among the top 10 releases of that year. There are still few bands heavier than Possessed at this point, but there are also bands who play tighter and write more interesting songs.
1. Intro
2. The Heretic
3. Tribulation
4. March to Die
5. Phantasm
6. No Will to Live
7. Beyond the Gates
8. The Beasts of the Apocalypse
9. Seance
10. Restless Dead
11. Dog Fight
Score: 8/10
Earlier in 1986, Metallica released an album that featured songs with extended run-times, with somewhat more complex arrangements and riffs that were repeated over and over, almost to the point of ridicule. Later that same year, Slayer decided to go in the exact opposite direction. With the exception of the opening and closing tracks, Slayer almost forego song development completely in favour of short, violent bursts of evil the likes of which the world had never seen. Their tactic is successful in a way, in that when the album is playing it is very enjoyable to someone who loves fast, energetic, evil-as-fuck music. However, once the music is over there's not a whole lot to remember.
If Slayer had made an album full of "Angel of Death" and "Raining Blood", it would truly be one for the ages! But instead we have two fantastic songs, a few lesser lights like "Postmortem" and "Altar of Sacrifice", and then a bunch of under-developed drive-by's. The influence of this album is far-reaching, inspiring a host of death and thrash metal bands to up the violence and aggression, and to start playing those strangled-guitar solos that I kind of wish Kerry and Jeff never decided to play.
Overrated? Absolutely. This is nowhere near the best thrash album ever, and I really question why so many people feel it is. Innovative? Somewhat. Hirax did the fast, short, metallic bursts already, but Slayer brings a new level of credibility, professionalism and pure evil to it. Is it good? Yeah, it's good. It's fun as hell, but just not very memorable nor is it deserving of a lot of the praise that is thrown its way. That said, it still shits on a good share of the thrash albums that have come out up to this point and beyond, which is a testament to just how good a band Slayer were in their prime.
1. Angel of Death
2. Piece By Piece
3. Necrophobic
4. Altar of Sacrifice
5. Jesus Saves
6. Criminally Insane
7. Reborn
8. Epidemic
9. Postmortem
10. Raining Blood
Score: 8/10
I've always felt that the New York area thrash bands wore their punk influences on their sleeves more so than their Californian counterparts, and nowhere is this more apparent than on a Nuclear Assault album. Whether you sported long hair or a mohawk, Nuclear Assault's debut must have appealed to a wide range of punks and metalheads since it featured metal-as-fuck riffs coupled with a punk rock attitude. Add in some excellent songwriting and the howling vocals of John Connelly, and you have one of the better releases of 1986.
Nuclear Assault could play as fast as anyone, but they also played a lot of mid-paced stuff that was carried by great riffs and powerful vocals. Hearing songs like "Brain Death" and "After the Holocaust" in a sweaty NYC club in 1986 must have been quite the trip because even though they may not be the fastest songs around, they evoke a sense of turmoil that would have to make for a great live experience. Given the amount of notoriety other releases from 1986 have garnered, I'm surprised that Game Over isn't right there with them -- I mean, it's fun as fuck, and there are moments that are as punishing as anything out there at the time. Sure, the guitars are a little thin and there are some needless interlude tracks, but this is a welcome addition to the thrash metal equation.
1. Live, Suffer, Die
2. Sin
3. Cold Steel
4. Betrayal
5. Radiation Sickness
6. Hang the Pope
7. After the Holocaust
8. Mr. Softee Theme
9. Stranded in Hell
10. Nuclear War
11. My America
12. Vengeance
13. Brain Death
Score: 8.5/10
Hallows Eve's first album was a bit of an up-and-down affair, lacking focus and direction. Their second release is not a whole lot different, but it's definitely an improvement on the first. Hallows Eve are not the most violent band, nor are they the most technical but they certainly are fun. They play thrash with a bit of an Iron Maiden flavour, epic and grandiose, which isn't a bad thing, but given what else is out there at this point, Death & Insanity just isn't all that impressive. "Goblet of Gore" is a fine song though, as is "D.I.E" and even "Lethal Tendencies" is enjoyable if not a bit repetitive. At any rate, this is a decent album, probably for fans of the genre only.
1. Death and Insanity
2. Goblet of Gore
3. Lethal Tendencies
4. Obituary
5. Plea of the Aged
6. Suicide
7. D.I.E. (Death In Effect)
8. Attack of the Iguana
9. Nefarious
10. Nobody Lives Forever
11. Death and Insanity (Reprise)
Score: 7/10
The problem with Hirax's first album, released a year earlier was that it was just too much of the same thing. 2-minute blast after 2-minute blast for a half hour can get tedious and is the main reason I've never been able to get into hardcore or grindcore. Whether it was intentional or not, Hirax improved on their debut in two ways. The first is that it's about half as long at a whopping 16 minutes. The second is that they figured out that good thrash isn't always full-speed ahead.
That second point is the key to this album being much better than their first album. Even though the first three tracks are straight-ahead speed freaks, with the 40-second title track featuring something that resembles a blast beat, it's the second half of the album where we see Hirax start to vary their songwriting. "The Last War" features an excellent, punishing main riff that sounds very similar to what Slayer would start doing a couple years later. The slower parts also give Katon's soaring vocals room to breathe and in doing so makes you wonder why they didn't do more of it. It's a shame that Hirax wouldn't be heard from again (other than a demo in 1987) until 2004, because there's a whole lot of potential in this release.
1. Hate, Fear & Power
2. Blind Faith
3. Unholy Sacrifice
4. Lightning Thunder
5. The Last War
6. The Plague
7. Imprisoned By Ignorance
8. Criminal Punishment
Score: 7/10
Dawn Crosby is the fourth female thrash vocalist we've heard from and is definitely one of the more intriguing ones. Somewhere between the melodic shouting of Sentinel Beast's Debbie Gunn and the proto-death metal stylings of Holy Moses' Sabina Classen, Crosby is somehow more pissed-off sounding than Classen. She comes off like a female Paul Baloff -- very little real singing talent, but all attitude, and just fucking livid-sounding. Indeed, she did have some issues, dying about 10 years later due to liver failure.
What about the rest of the band? The album itself? Well, it's not awful, but it's pretty unspectacular. The band struggles to find an identity, mashing together some pretty decent, catchy choruses with verse riffs that just don't want to go together. The band definitely sound better when they're doing more mid-paced epic-sounding stuff, as opposed to the speedy, crossover parts they tend to fall into more often, but really the whole recording lacks intensity, so much so that it makes Crosby's vocals sound almost comical or tiresome. There are some bright spots, but they're mostly during the choruses when the whole band comes together with solid riffs and hooky vocals. Being that this is 1986, and we've already heard a large amount of truly classic thrash, well that just ain't gonna cut it.
1. Losers
2. Russian Roulette
3. It's Your Fate
4. Holy War
5. Catalepsy
6. Shattered Illusions
7. Life is Pain
8. Blood I Bleed
9. Widow's Walk
10. Vultures in the Sky
Score: 5/10
This is the first review that I've had to totally re-write for this project. I originally gave Doomsday for the Deceiver a 7, which is not a bad score at all, in fact it qualifies it as a very good album, definitely above average. I didn't post the review right away because something didn't sit right with me, so I decided to listen to it again the next morning. It's fairly obvious I didn't give it enough of a chance originally, because I turned it up loud, let the aggressive riffing swallow me up and decided this is a whole lot more than a very good album.
The overall sound of Doomsday for the Deceiver is extremely aggressive yet melodic, straddling the line somewhere between Metallica and Anthrax. Most of the songs are rip-your-face-off fast, with a lot of slow acoustic interludes and intros, some of which feel a little unnecessary. Jason Newsted's bass is fairly high in the mix, and I have to think it was at least part of the reason for him getting the call from Metallica because he puts on a fucking clinic on this album. Eric A.K.'s vocals are less aggressive than most thrash vocalists' of the same period, but they do fit the music well and give the music a bit of a Diamond Head feel at times.
What a solid thrash album. There are some weaker songs, but the strong ones are textbook thrash mastery. It's pretty obvious these guys had been listening to the giants since they formed back in 1981. I can't believe I was going to give this a 7...
1. Hammerhead
2. Iron Tears
3. Desecrator
4. Fade to Black
5. Doomsday for the Deceiver
6. Metalshock
7. She Took an Axe
8. ULSW
9. Der Fuhrer
Score: 8.5/10
