Snyper - Manifestations [1988] (Demo)

Introducing Snyper, a carnal and highly overlooked British thrash assault. For many people, these UK thrashers are just another addition to a growing old school thrash demo collection, but for me, or any other thrash-obsessed metalhead, it's simply a marvel of the Internet. There are many reasons why this five-piece never made to the grand league, and probably the most crucial ones is that they were from the UK, which, although mustered a fair amount of convincing thrash acts including my favorite Xentrix, never actually got the attention or support they required, and the second one, is an even more obvious reason; the band could only spew forth a handful of short demos and a split with numerous English thrash vandals, and so, here is their premier demo, ''Manifestations''; where is all began, in a way.

Snyper's style was probably renowned and copied countless times before it was even released, so yeah, in terms originality, Snyper scarcely stands out. I suppose we can call it an estranged mingle of semi-technical thrash with raw Bay Area elements and a few speed/thrash twists here and there, and the reason I can't quite describe the style of this demo is that it consisted of only one damn song, which pretty much erases the hope of a long paean emerging out of nowhere. The sole ephemeral track ''Manifestations'' can nonetheless boast a fair measure of energy, and besides espousing this sort of dark undertone to go with raw projection of riffs, Snyper has a burden of happy, almost ecstatic melodies springing out of nowhere, and a vile sound that I can relate to Mercful Fate with bits and pieces of Venom and Bathory. No, this isn't black/thrash, but the vocals can deliver harsh and ruinous growls, which makes it sound as if a madmen of a surgeon were plucking out bits of your intestines with a blunt scalpel while you're still conscious. Yep, scary shit.

Snyper's beginnings were humble, but the band showed proficiency, and they were apt to improve, but that never happened, unfortunately. Their augmenting potential was probably obliterated somewhere in the early to mid 90's after they released their final demo ''Something Illusionary''. I don't think even most die-hard thrash fan will become deliriously addicted to this demo, or any of Snyper's material for that matter, but giving this demo a spin every now and then for the sake of its some what evil and spurious contents can never result badly, and what's more, is that Snyper's arsenal has just begun to expose its frivolous afflictions, so be warned, for the band's best is yet to come.

Highlight
''Manifestations''

Final Rating
Mediocre [7.7/10]

Snyper - Obituary [1988] (Demo)

For a demo being released in the same year as the previous and somewhat immature installment ''Manifestations'', UK hit n' run thrashers certainly stepped up their game up by a good pace. Not only does Snyper ameliorate the material on the previous demo to form a robuster demo, but ''Obituary'' also stands out with its dexterous approach, its leaps and frivolous excursions, all building up into a single fifteen minute demo of three songs - possibly the best the UK thrashers will ever conjure. Seriously, you can never go wrong with such vigorous splashes in the face like this, and with a itsee bitsee bit of experimentation, Snyper are in the top of their game.

The ''experimentation'' I'm talking about here is lucidly not any major change in the bands style, and in fact, it would be wrong to actually call it an experimentation, but the thing is, on ''Obituary'', Snyper adorn the bloodthirsty thrash craze with fragments of queer twists, which, probably belongs to the same kind of ecstatic  diversity on the previous demo, only more embraced. First off, there demo has a far crisper and cleaner production than ''Manifestations'', and second, with the improved clarity and crunch, the riffs sound better executed, not to mention better penned. The band has obviously grown fonder of tremolos and brusque plods of melody entwining with carnal, raw chops and speed/thrash ruptures, and they utilize these blithe melodies to congeal with the tremolos, forming a solid hooking line of strident narrating riffs.

The vocals have stayed pretty much the same, which is something that I'm very glad about; they're still ghastly and throaty, the way I like it. This time, however, the importance of the vocals have increased. With the band sticking to the primal hostility that they had fancied quite a bit on the previous demo, the vocals become an essential part of the savagery department, emanating the raw insanity throughout the veins of the riff patterns and ultimately, pervading the primal energy. You're bound to have boisterous headbanging time whilst you listen to this, and moreover, this demo deserves accolades for having such a primitive and brisk feel to it, quite literally topping a good number of its fellow peers and countrymen during that time. My only complaint was that it was far too brief, as with all the band's demos, to fully enjoy, but hell, I still like it a lot.

Highlights
Sacred Blade
Deathright At Sunset

Final Rating
Awesome [8.3/10]