Believe it or not today marks the day that the very first album by Bay Area Thrashers Exodus had arrived on the shelves of record stores everywhere; I am speaking of the molten moshpit inciter of “Bonded By Blood” which celebrates its 30th Anniversary today. Now before I go any further I have to admit that I was not a fan of this kind of Metal back in that time period as it was still just a little “too much” for me despite my enjoying some Slayer, Metallica and lots of what was going to be referred to as Power Metal eventually. Don’t worry though my friends as I would eventually grow to better appreciate works such as this one even if it was as a latecomer.
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“Thrashing Like A Maniac” by Various Artists
Artist: Various Artists
Title: “Thrashing Like A Maniac”
Label: Earache Records
Release Date: 2/5/2008
Genre: Thrash Metal
Rating: 3.75/5
During my own formative musical years I was fortunate enough to have the original titans of the Thrash Metal genre providing me with lessons and influence that would be carried on strong for a long time and looking back on it I had to say that it was great to be a fan of this stuff and watch the progression of Metallica, Anthrax, Slayer and Megadeth. The repertoire of these groups and several more like them are legendary and have not lost an ounce of their initial impact and with that being said, who shall pick up the ball and run with it into the next few decades? This rousing CD aims to answer that question as it offers up sixteen bands that are slowly building up their own names on the Metal geography and using the lessons taught by the past masters to do it properly. The adventure begins with a band that names themselves after a classic album by Exodus and does some justice with their “Immortal Life”. Lots of quick riffs and double bass drumming in this. Evile from the UK comes up next and these guys are stars in the making. I have been lucky to catch them in concert a few times and they do it up right. I found it interesting to hear the singer on this one sounding a little like classic Araya from Slayer. Municipal Waste are more of a cross over to the Hard core sound kind of band and if you are looking for the new champions of that sound then look no further than these guys.
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“Earache Summer Sampler 2010” by Various Artists
Artist: Various Artists
Title: “Earache Summer Sampler 2010”
Label: Earache Records
Release Date: 6/29/2010
Genre: Heavy Metal/Thrash/Grindcore
Rating: 3.75/5
If Metal is your business, then business is good or at least a whole lot better thanks to the folks over at Earache Records who are delivering this incendiary sampler of their latest bands and releases. You’ve likely been long aware of this label as they have been the herald of the underground scene for more years than I can count and at one time delivered the likes of Decapitated, Napalm Death, and even Carcass. This is a sampler that is meant to be played at critical volumes and by that I mean one that makes your neighbors fear your listening routine just a little more than they might already do. Scanning around the presentations we find Evile from the United Kingdom and a band I have seen a number of times. They are champions of the old sound but have a modern twist to them, and those dudes in White Wizzard make you feel as though you rolled back into the eighties in a good way. Conventional Thrash comes through with shining colors thanks to Bonded By Blood and Gama Bomb and while one band cites recollections of Exodus the latter band reminds of classic era Overkill in some sense. Melodic Death Metal is delivered to perfection by Order Of Ennead and one should expect this given its the side-project of members of Deicide and rising star shredder John Li. There is some molten heaviness care of Grind Core Singaporeans Wormrot and we get two songs from them. Don’t take a deep breath as its likely to be longer than the tunes provided and the rest you shall just have to learn about on your own.
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