Megadeth

Megadeth
Endgame (2009)
Roadrunner Records
Rating: 4 out of 4 Pentagrams
Reviewed by: Jeff Deth

For all long time fans of Megadeth, this is truly the record you’ve been waiting for. United Abominations certainly gave hint to how good Dave Mustaine’s songwriting can still be but Endgame takes it to a whole new level. This is a complete return to the form of Rust in Peace/Countdown to Extinction. Every single track shreds. There’s not a single misstep. Its seems as if Mustaine pulled together touches of his best work spanning over his whole catalog to create this record. The first track Dialectic Chaos is an instrumental nod to the first track from So far, So Good, So What and 1,320 is a lightning speed track that sounds right off the Killing is My Business… album. It’s truly amazing to hear all these eras mashed together and still sound completely fresh and relevant today.

The riffs on every track are incredible. The solos that get put down are as energetic and inspired as anything recorded by any of the previous Megadeth lineups. The addition of lead guitarist Chris Broderick must certainly have put some wind in the sails for Mustaine. I feel like Broderick is the best fit in this band since Marty Friedman. His chops are just mind-blowing.

As indulgent as the musicianship is, the songs are still very compact and to the point. Endgame also has very sharp and pointed lyrics, political at times but also personal in classic Mustaine style. Every element showcases classic Megadeth. Mustaine is making a very bold statement with this record. At his age there’s no explanation as to how he can be writing music as aggressive and fast as he is. Endgame blows away just about everything I’ve heard in the past few years by contemporary metal bands. This is just a case of the veterans showing everybody how metal is supposed to be done.

If I were ranking the Megadeth catalog, Endgame would be 4th on my list out of the 12. While it doesn’t quite top Rust in Peace, Peace Sells… or Countdown, it closely follows. To be able to come back after all these years and create music of this caliber is very impressive. The band clearly has assessed their strongest attributes and what their fans have loved about them. It’s refreshing to have a band give the fans what they want while staying true to themselves. All the miscues and experiments are over. This is classic Megadeth speed metal!

Destruction

Destruction

Release from Agony (1988)

Profile Records

Rating: 3.25 Pentagrams out of 4

Reviewed by: Jeff Deth

Next to the United States, an argument could easily be made that Germany gave us some of the best thrash bands of all time. Certainly in terms of influence, German bands like Kreator, Sodom and Destruction paved the way for the next generation of extreme death and black metal genres. During the mid to late eighties Destruction was amongst the most extreme metal bands in their brutal speed thrashing attack. They made no bones about how metal they were. They literally covered themselves in bullet belts, spikes and leather. They’re almost the perfect thrash band. They don’t have songs that epitomize thrash or that could be considered essential but they are  consistently very good.

Germany had already made significant contributions to the metal scene prior to thrash but it seems that they truly had a deep connection to this violent, disillusioned and satanic offspring of punk and metal fusion. How from Lörrach, they synthesized all that was emerging in the tiny clubs of the Bay Area amazes me. More so, in relation to Slayer or Exodus. I can’t relate them in many ways to Metallica. Destruction is on the darker fringe. Flirting with Satanic imagery and chaotic horrors of the world and of the mind.

Release from Agony was the bands third full length LP from 1988. It contains everything great about this band. Blazing solo after solo matched by a charging rhythm section and the high-pitched shrieks of Bassist/ vocalist Schmier. Listen to any Black Metal song and you will hear the influence Schimer had as they seem to mimic him all the way. The way he used his voice at the time was something really unique. With the addition of a second guitarist, the solos are as frequent as they are incredible.

Each song delves into some dark and distorted facet of existence. Death, depression, political corruption, war. These are the things in life a band calling themselves Destruction can appreciate. Yes, their worldview  is pretty bleak but they express it with such intensity and speed that it gleefully catapults you straight into the fiery abyss. I’m totally blown away by the technical precision of each song. I listened to the whole album three times in a row just to take it all in. This is a great record all the way through. A perfect reflection of the German movement of thrash metal that spawned countless other bands but of which Destruction stands the tallest.

Dark Angel

Dark Angel

Time Does Not Heal (1991)

Combat Records

Rating: 3 1/2 out of 4 Pentagrams 

Reviewed by: Jeff Deth

Dark Angel is one of those bands that appear very mysterious to me. There’s not much press on them. All their albums are hard to find or over-priced. I don’t know if the records went out of print or what. I’ve never seen an official video or interview footage. I recently found some concert clips on You Tube for the 1^st time just to see what they looked like playing together. For as good of a band as Dark Angel was, they kept a level of intrigue around them that most other bands haven’t.

Taking a look at the cover of this record the logo is one of the absolute best of its kind. It clearly depicts the dark and sinister nature of extreme metal. It’s overbearing in its evilness. It basically says everything you need to know about the band from their sound to their content. With such a powerful mark, the level of expectation was high.

If you were to pick up an earlier album like Darkness Descends you would get nothing short of an ear bleeding pummeling of record-setting speed and ferocity. Time Does Not Heal is the final Dark Angel record and it documents the band expanding its thrashing assault into more progressive territory. There’s plenty of brutality and adrenaline being kicked up to be sure but there’s also a level of musicianship and technicality that is apparent as well. The song structures here allow for a tempo in which you can really appreciate the dynamics of the guitar work. This album also stands out due to vocalist Ron Rinehart’s more classical approach as opposed to the low-pitched growl that became the standard delivery. Rinehart adds a lot of emotion and character to the songs, becoming an instrument himself.

The mood never varies from being totally ominous and bleak. Gene Hoglan, aside from being a blindingly fast drummer penned almost all the lyrics. There’s not a moment of upliftment in songs like “Trauma and Catharsis” or “Pains Invention, Madness.” This album locks you down into a scene reflective of the dark and menacing ally photo on the album cover. Pain and deceit is everywhere and you have only yourself to count on. There are the songs that speak out against religion but there’s also a song against rape. A look at the lyric sheet will show a thinking man’s approach to metal, long expansive forays into deep subject matter.

So while there’s little known about individual members of the band, quite a bit can be gleamed about their beliefs from their music alone. This is a serious thrash band that plays over the heads of the cursory listener. But it’s their heaviness that puts them on the same playing field as any one of the “Big Four” of the classic thrash-era.

Austrian Death Machine

Austrian Death Machine

Total Brutal (2008)

Metal Blade Records

Rating: 3 out of 4 Pentagrams 

Reviewed by: Jeff Deth

This record is absolutely hilarious. A total spoof themed on Arnold Schwarzenegger, or rather, characters he has portrayed on screen. In Between songs are parodies of Arnie where he acts as bandleader trying to lead the jam session. I can see how this might get tired after repeated listens but is pretty entertaining the first time through. Each song is named after some line Arnold has used from various movies. Example: “Come with me if you want to live” from The Terminator.

This goof “band” seems to be a one off side project of As I Lay Dying Vocalist; Tim Lambesis who plays all the instruments.  So this is really not a band but is kind of cool anyway. It’s worth mentioning all the solos are played by guests from other notable bands like Killswitch Engage and Haste the Day.

The songs all jam and have none of the newer metal sounds of Dying. It’s a thrashing full on assault of headbanging and comedy. The music itself is a throwback to the thrash sound of the 80’s. So, super fast, heavy and intense. Everything is a reference to that era including the sweet cover art reminiscent of Megadeth’s Peace Sells or Nuclear Assault’s Game Over. Oh, wait a second that's because the same artist, Ed Repka, created all of them. Nice. 

There’s not a whole lot more to say about this album. No deep intellectual concepts to unpackage and analyze. This is junk food, a guilty pleasure when you’re just too tired to be serious. I could see throwing it on every now and again for fun. It should be of interest to anyone into As I Lay Dying or for old-school thrash enthusiasts. I’m sure Arnold would be proud.

 

Midas Touch

Midas Touch

Presage of Disaster (1989)

Noise Records

Rating: 2.75 out of 4 Pentagrams 

Reviewed by: Jeff Deth

Midas Touch were a very short-lived Swedish thrash band, baring a strong resemblance to many of the German Thrashers of the late 80’s era. I found this cassette on a dollar rack at the Record Collector amongst a treasure chest of other hard to find thrash albums. Given the dirt-cheap cost I grabbed it based on the Noise Records logo alone.  Also, the record cover art gave me a good impression, their logo spoke to me and said, “hey! We’re a thrash band, look at my sharp edges!”

Presage of Disaster shows a lot of promise. the technical playing as well as the interesting lyrical content set Midas Touch up firmly next to bands like Nuclear Assault and Destruction. The album has a good flow of peaks and valleys. like all thrash bands they keep the pace mostly very aggressive and heavy but some of favorite moments where the quite intros or breakdowns.

The vocal style is acceptable but not unique. There actually seems to be a bit of a punk influence in certain parts. The political lyricism is also especially punk tinged dealing with war, religion and censorship. This album is defiantly a time capsule of what was going on in metal 87-90 and if you’re already a fan of these types of bands you won’t find anything disagreeable here. At the same time there’s nothing that is extremely memorable either. 

All in all it’s a nice addition for someone looking to expand his or her thrash-metal collection. For the average or temperate fan this is certainly not a must have masterpiece, definitive of the style. Rather it’s a technically solid debut record by some young musicians at the time trying to break into a fairly established metal scene at that point. And this was Sweden before “Swedish Death-Metal”. Midas Touch remains relatively unknown being that this was their only release. Had they stayed together, toured more and recorded a few more albums they could have had more success. But for most people there really is only so much room on the shelf. But for me, I’ll continue to stack’em to the ceiling till I’m dead.

GHOUL! SPLATTER THRASH!

Ghoul is one of those bands, they just slay. Every track will make you wanna headbutt your microwave. Seriously great band... Enough **** riding....

Ghoul is all about what this blog is all about, bad movies and great metal. They are a burlap sack wearing, machete swinging troupe of undead metal heads. You cannot get any better than this for metal, even if they started as a joke band.

The guitars are killer, the vocals are brutal, and a live show by these guys is an experience any horror buff or metal head should partake in. The lyrics are great and a huge tribute to all things horror.

NOW... I would never straight up condone grippin this up, and you better buy some merch from theses guys. I am putting this album up under this statement....

Bands like this... SHOULD BE SUPPORTED... Get this listen to it, and buy a copy or some shirt or whatever... Bands like this exist for your entertainment, but... SUPPORT THEM... Go see them, get into it..

This band has mysterious members and some claim they know, but no one will truly know where these freaks came from. It's kinda well known but... I like the whole mystery...
Here is a cool pic of the crazy doods...


Here is the album -----> SPLATTERTHRASH

Atrophy

Socialized Hate (1988)

Roadracer Records

Rating: 4 out of 4 Skulls

Reviewed by: Jeff Deth

I fucking love this record. Atrophy is this great little unknown band from Arizona, that sadly was short-lived. They came up along with fellow Arizonians, Flotsam and Jetsam and Sacred Reich. Being from outside The LA, Bay-Area or New York scenes must have been tough on the band. But they did do well enough to get signed and do a couple tours to support two full-length albums.

Socialized Hate was their debut from 1988, and boy did it show some promise. This record just rips from beginning to end, they really put the speed behind their aggressive thrash attack. The solos are plentiful from dueling guitarists Chris Lykins and Rick Skowron. They both play really clean and technical shredding leads throughout the record. The soloing in particular is one of my favorite aspects of listening to this band.

The other really cool component of the band is the lyrical content. Lykins wrote most of the words and he’s clearly an intelligent and informed individual. Like a lot of the thrash bands, Atrophy takes a very political stance on a variety of issues from warfare to religion to institutionalized racism. They were clearly more than just a party band. Overall pretty clever and sophisticated for music that makes you want to trash your bedroom. All the songs have a point to make but not necessarily in an over-bearing way. And just to prove they’re not all that serious, they have a comic on here about beer bonging.

Even if you didn’t give a shit about the words it’s easy just to get carried away with the music itself. Killer speed, killer aggression.

Stand out tracks like “Killing Machine”, “Socialized Hate” and “Urban Decay” make this a record worth many listens.

Great production has to be mentioned due to the legendary work of Bill Metoyer. Metoyer has worked with tons of thrash bands like Slayer, Dark Angel, D.R.I. and Laaz Rockit. Everything seemed to be going in the right direction for the band. I would love to have seen them stay together for a few more releases. 

Forbidden

Forbidden Evil

1988 (Combat Records)

Rating: 3 out of 4 Pentagrams

Reviewed By: Jeff Deth

Forbidden was one of the many now infamous Bay-Area thrash bands active in the mid to late 1980’s. Obviously the first of those bands to come to mind are Slayer, Metallica and Exodus. Forbidden is a band you will eventually get to once you’ve gotten through the top layer of thrash. Technically speaking Forbidden is every bit as talented as any of their peers at the time. An early line-up of the band featured future Vio-lence and Machinehead guitarist Rob Flynn.

Although Flynn was to leave the band prior to the recording of Forbidden Evil, three songs he co-wrote are featured on this record. The other notable player who is on this recording is drummer Paul Bostaph, who would later sit at the kit for both Slayer and Exodus.

There are eight songs here and every one of them jams heavy. This is classic straight-up Bay-Area thrash. What really stands out to me are the vocals of Russ Anderson. He uses a range that goes from the standard thrash growl to higher pitched screams. It sort of reminds me of Sanctuary or early Overkill.

The riffs all sound fresh and inspired. There are two or three killer solos on every track. The sleeve lists both Craig Locicero and Glen Alvelais as lead guitarists, so I assume they’re always trading off which is great.

Everything on the record is highly technical, fast and aggressive. There was no lyric sheet with my cassette pressing but with songs titled “As Good as Dead”, “March into Fire” and “Chalice of Blood” it’s safe to assume they’re into death, war, rebellion and general mayhem. It’s all good. Typical, yes, but I don’t make hard terms with a band that can give me an intense head-banging record.

The cover art depicts two flying skulls smashing together. Great, when I first picked it up I knew what I was going to get. I’ll admit, I don’t pull this album out on a regular basis, but when I do I always think to myself, “They’re better then I thought, I should listen to this more often.”

In a lot of ways they closely resemble the more visible thrash bands of the era in both sound and content. Maybe that’s the reason they have less of a memorable reputation. They where also a part of the 2^nd wave of thrash which in general seems to get less recognition. Listening to this record though proves to me they were defiantly up to snuff if even for only a brief period. They were only to record one more great record, Twisted into Form.

Again, I really enjoyed the vocal element to this otherwise standard Bay-Area affair. This band deserves more acknowledgements then they get and I’m sure they are getting more traction today with the current reemergence of interest in the scene.