Coming with the dreaded ‘groove/thrash metal’ tag, and some 80s B grade cover artwork (intentional I’m sure), I didn’t have very high expectations for the debut from this Netherlands act, but the old  adage  ‘never judge a book by its cover’, was pretty appropriate here, as I actually ended up rather enjoying this thrashy little […]

Arizona Thrash veterans , Sacred Reich, return with their first full length since, Heal, from 1996.  Awakening is their 5th full length and after reforming years ago the band has made it more than a reunion, because unlike a lot of bands reuniting Sacred Reich actually recorded a new album, rather than continuing to rest on their laurels and tour […]

Chicago’s progressive-thrash metal/crossover band Aftermath return with the follow-up to their 1994 debut-Eyes of Tomorrow, with There is Something Wrong.  Aftermath reformed in 2014 and this album has Charlie Tsiolis on vox, Steve Sacco on guitar, Ray Schmidt on drums and George Lagis on bass.  So being away for so long and your second album […]

Ahh Thrash Metal…For the most part there are usually two camps when it comes to the liking of the genre. One camp simply being lovers of the trade, relishing in everything it is, in all of its neck breaking glory; the other camp tends to keep its distance from the beer and sweat smelling, denim […]

Hot damn! The floor is lava, my ass. The floor is pure fucking Death Angel fire! Rest assured, the band’s newest thrash platter, Humanicide, will burn you up, consuming your pitiful little being, leaving nary a trace that your ever existed, much less mattered.  A bit much? Maybe, but Humanicide really is that good, we’re […]

Norway’s Darkthrone return with their 18th album and Old Star is ass-kicking from start to finish.  First a few things.  Outside of Bathory’s first 6 albums and the 2 Nordland albums, Darkthrone are my favorite black metal band of all time and this is coming from a person that only dabbles in the black metal genre and not full on into all the bands, as many know […]

The thrash genre largely misfired in 2018 but for nostalgists and enthusiasts alike, 2019 has been far more fruitful in delivering solid thrash goods. Boasting a hard-hitting style and no-frills old school attitude, Ohio’s War Curse offer a familiar blast from the past with just enough modern sensibilities and crunch to avoid being another cog […]

Sometimes as a reviewer social networking helps.  A YouTube link from a record label might pop across your timeline and give you the choice to listen to or not.   Thus was the case with Atlanta’s Paladin and their video for their tune, “Shoot for the Sun”.  First off, the riffing is so over the top […]

Part II of my Destruction reissue review series focuses on Mad Butcher, Release from Agony and Cracked Brain.  Part I contained Sentence of Death, Infernal Overkill and Eternal Devastation.  In 1987, 1 year removed from their amazing second album, Eternal Devastation, Destruction graced us with the Mad Butcher ep.  Years ago it was usually common for bands to release eps between full length albums and this ep marked an improvement in the production […]

When stacked against the barren wasteland of the 2018 thrash metal scene, comparatively, 2019 is off to a much stronger start. The likes of Critical Defiance, Inculter and Exumer have dropped solid albums thus far. And now, up and coming Detroit band Euphoria Ω return with the follow-up to their impressive 2016 debut, Operation: Genesis. […]

I had no idea Germany’s Destruction have been around since 1982-Christ Almighty.  I’ve been a fan since their 1984 Sentence of Death ep.  Guess I’ve lost track of time and I have not followed the band since the 1990 Cracked Brain album.  So this is Part I of my Destruction reissue review series.  Germany’s High […]

Germany’s now defunct Deathrow would have been classified as the second-tier thrash wave when their brand of thrash metal erupted in the mid-80’s.  Their debut album Riders of Doom was first released as Satan’s Gift and eventually as Riders of Doom that same year.  Two different album covers, however most would agree the Riders of […]

For me, the best Anthrax album is Among the Living from 1987.  However, Anthrax wasted little time with getting their fourth full-length released with the 1988, State of Euphoria record.  Anthrax had already firmly established themselves with their patented NY stylized crunch thrash metal guitar tone and were already touring worldwide.  The airing of the […]

Generally speaking, average and/or mediocre albums can be quite the proverbial bitch when it comes to reviewing. Much like a dining experience that is merely decent and all around adequate, how does one go about recommending something that is just basically sufficient? Seriously, how many times have we either told someone not to go to […]

Swedish thrash/punk stranglers Defiatory dropped a royal ass kicker with their 2016 debut Extinct.  The band’s caffeinated, hopped-up assault took melodic cues from Sin after Sin and Stained Class, sniped Slayer and the first couple of Overkill records for thrash overload, siphoned in several eras of Swedish brutality (The Crown, Grave, Dismember and the underrated […]

Without question Metallica’s Master of Puppets, in 1986, is one of the all-time greatest thrash metal records ever to be released.  This is the album that platooned them into super stardom. Along with their US tour with Ozzy, Metallica then began to rise to a popularity that many groups only have dreams of.  Last year, Metallica […]

All four of these albums were previously remastered in 1999 and now we get reissues of a reissue.  But Tom Warrior breathed new life into the sound with the help from his Triptykon bandmate V.Santura who is an excellent engineer.  Each paragraph will speak more about my experience with Celtic Frost and the added extras.  […]

Shoot ‘em Up, the self-released album from Canadian death-thrashers Mortör is one of those efforts that you hear every once in a while that makes you think it could have easily been released on a metal label of some repute. It’s catchy, it’s grooving, and it’s just plain tough. With nary an ounce of fat […]

Here’s the deal. It’s tough to make a splash with an album that culls from the vintage Bay Area thrash sound without coming off as second rate imitation. Fortunately, thrash metal fans – probably even more than death metal fans – are less concerned about originality than the average fan of heavy music. In that […]

Death metal will always be my passion, and there has been some really good stuff dropping as of late (Amon, Tombthroat, Miseration, Relics of Humanity). But there does come a time where one can get death-metalled out so to say, and a break can sometimes be in order. That prompted me to grab the second […]

Fans of Toxic Holocaust should stop smoking weed and crank out the harder stuff, for Philadelphia’s speedy thrashers Rumpelstiltskin Grinder are back with their third full-length studio album, which embodies everything fans of Joel Grind’s solo project will love, only much faster. The 12-song outing is pretty lengthy considering that it is a thrash metal […]

It’s tough to be a metal band in 2012. Not only does one have to contend with piracy, a shrinking music industry, and a crowded pond filled with the scum of other metal bands, but one has to be able to stand out musically. Some bands take the safe route and pay tribute to their […]

At this point, Skeletonwitch is near unstoppable. They keep elevating their game to a new level without sacrificing (to the slaughtergod) an iota of what makes them the ‘witch – the galloping rhythms, shredtastic solos and riffing, ear-catching melodies and scathing vocals are all still very much intact, just wrapped up in even tighter packaging. […]

When it comes down to the new Megadeth album TH1RT3EN, there’s one thing people can agree on: At least it’s not ‘Lulu’. Click on to read our review of Mega Dave’s latest opus.

So, after a long eight year recording silence following the release of Tara, Absu have now released two albums in three years. The second of a planned trilogy dealing with the abyss, Abzu is as blisteringly sharp and nasty as you would expect, if not more so. Few albums rip and shred as hard as […]