Ghost Story - The Image and the Reality (Demo) [1990]

The truth hurts. While so many undeserving acts receive recognition and pundits beyond belief, those whose fates are as tragic and fragmentary as Ghost Story becomes lost in the billowing wind. Fortunately, with the technological benefits ushered in by the 21st century, hunting down an obscure demo such as the Atlanta quartet's ''The Image and the Reality'' becomes a much easier task than to have acquired the demo by tape trading in the early 90's. Ghost Story and their second demo are significant for two reasons: not only does the sound existing within these five tracks possess the potential to champion most thrash or speed metal outings that were being put out by 1990, but the sound itself is quite unique, a stunning tribute to the power/speed/thrash traditions of the 80's that, without conspiring to move the genre's foundations in any manner, manages to become one of the most potent and memorable heavy metal demos of all time.

Yes, you heard it right, and the joke is on you if you're smirking behind your PC reading this, smiling at the laughable crudity of the cover art, because ''The Image and the Reality'' is fantastic. There is no tandem to quality here, since each track serves equal portions of ass-kickery, but I love that the band diverges from the linear thrashing simplicity or speed/thrash filth offered by so many of its peers, and a general feel of power metal here runs parallel to the well-forged arsenal of riffs, which are entirely memorable excursions into the wide fulfillment of the genre at large, and you're bound to hear anything from ''Rust In Peace'' era Megadeth to more progressively oriented speed/thrash a la Angent Steel, Toxik, Coroner and Watchtower to more obscure power/thrash acts from the early 90's like Mystik or Stygian. There is a certain hooking quality to the riffs that makes them both immensely entertaining and also slightly moving. ''I Won't Change'' is a good example, with a broad thrashing rhythm accentuating the verses and moodier breaks into ballad-esque arpeggios and melodic guitar solos. But the group also harnesses these chugging, looming that feels completely satisfying in terms of mood and sway, with pure wisps of clear power metal melody reminiscent of early Fates Warning crowning the remaining bits and pieces. Of course despite the marginal variants, Ghost Story's focus remains a furious dialect of speed and thrash metal, like the excellent verse of ''Repent'', full of twisting but uncomplicated riffs which sound like an awesome addendum that Dave Mustaine forgot to add to his first two Megadeth discs. At any rate, the rhythm section remains extremely tight and killer, with no frugality of headbanging material.

Rob Thompson's vocals here are part of what makes the demo so damn unique. A versatile detachment from the classic harsh Teutonic rasp, but retaining enough audibility, poignancy and an arousing timber to sound fresh, I'd say he sounds like a more controlled, gruffer Sean Killan, but all the same he can seamlessly weave into a different tone according to the undercurrent of guitars: granted, he doesn't feel like a majestic soaring banshee destined to bewilder a listener as on a classic like ''Think This'' or ''Control and Resistance'', but he still sounds almost immediately distinguishable than the umpteenth 80's thrash rehash I'd hear. For a demo, the production here, just like everything else, reigns supreme. Sure, you might need to raise the volume a tad before you can really hear the music, but the drums have a crisp tone to them and never perambulate in terms of volume as on an occasional demo recording; the guitars are copious but they never overfeed the mix; and the bass is surprisingly audible in a Steve Harrison kind of way, ballasting the metallic crevices of the guitars with some sweet, raw lines. In terms of instrumentation, Ghost Story sure dwell into a lot of 'contemplative' discourse riffing, more often than a regular thrash act, but the long moments are never dull as to cull boredom from the listener and they're smart enough to break off from the more melodic, moody instruments-only plateau just in time to cut into a fierce chorus or bridge. Every song is truly legendary here, within its minimal cult status: from the introductory arpeggios of ''I Won't Change'' to the irresistible chorus on ''Silent Masses'' to the unforgettable gap riff midway ''What Few Even Dare'' which has stayed with me ever since my first spin, ''The Image of the Reality'' is one of those rare recordings, which, assuming the shape of another abstruse obscurity, heightens to the level of a full-length, beating so many at their own game that it makes my flesh prickly just thinking about it. Truly, its only fault is its brevity and slightly cramped production that feels only natural. Otherwise, find this at all costs, and if you're a collector of heavy metal demos, you've already wasted your time reading this reviewer's fanboyish rant about it.

Highlights
''Sanity Web''
''What Few Even Dare''
''Silent Masses''

Final Rating
Masterpiece [9/10]

Cyclone - Brutal Destruction [1986]

It might be a sad fact that Cyclone suffered from anachronisms throughout their brief career, but they nevertheless managed to emerge as one of the best Belgian thrash outfits with only two full-lengths at their belt. While their sophomore was a tour de force in the realms of classic, albeit chunkier Bay Area thrash, complete with a characteristically dark and alluring atmosphere, back in 1986, when Bay Area thrash was just finding its way around the woodwork with cornerstones like ''Master of Puppets'', ''Reign in Blood'', ''Darkness Descends'' and ''Bonded By Blood'', the Belgians were keeping more to the German rule book, boasting a vicious, uncompromising Teutonic aesthetic which Kreator, Destruction, Sodom and Tankard were promulgating at the time, doused in speed metal. As crazed and energetic it may seem to purists, ''Brutal Destruction'' is not the most memorable piece to be excavated from its time, even though the Belgians obviously had a good head start.

Cyclone always seemed one step behind the world, which is probably why they were lost in the throngs. Had this record come out 2-3 years before its release, it would easily had been hailed as one of those cult pre-'85 recordings, with ragged production values and undiluted, sporadic speed/thrash riff ballasts supporting its cult status. But that's not the case here, since ''Brutal Destruction'' feels like an average ringlet in the whole circular universe of thrash recordings, even at a time when the genre was still fresh and malleable. Still, that's not to say ''Brutal Destruction'' is bad; while I'd still say this isn't as impressive or technical as something Dave Mustane would have crafted at the time, speedy guitar licks and delicious lead snippets inserted into a broader, savage thrashing undercurrent, Cyclone is notably 'German' here, with a sound that reminds one of the earliest Destruction and Kreator records peized randomly and stuffed into a nice speed metal cauldron, yet not as evil as some of Sodom's early recordings, stripped almost entirely from all sense of melody. Ripping, ribald muted tremolos and occasional heavier moments that borrowed a riff or two from ''Pleasure to Kill'' give the impression that the band members where still uncertain whether they should go by a more straightforward speed/thrash aesthetic or a slightly more complex hefty thrash barge (it turns out they picked the latter in the end, although not on this record) with reasonably outrageous and corny song titles (''Take Thy Breath'', ''Incest Love'', ''In the Grip of Evil''). Unmuzzled and road-driven as these riffs are, it's hard to take Cyclone too seriously, even with the evident energy bestowed upon their performance: this is 'real' 80's metal for sure, but it also feels more moderate than the higher octane body of works that was being put out at that time.

The vocals give that frenetic Paul Bailoff effect; they're amateurish (not unlike the sophomore) but there's enough shrieking and shouting to be heard to make them enjoyable. I'm not going to lie that the guitar tone and the production levels are surprisingly impressive for a record out of 1986. The chords, the drums and even the plodding, one-dimensional base lines are all suitably integrated into the mix, and if anything, the leads, in all their frivolity, are still fairly entertaining with a sporadic blues attitude, reminiscent more of a ''Kill 'em All'' than ''Infernal Overkill''. To be honest, there are good tracks here: ''Long to Hell'' and ''Incest Love'' are both quite compilation-worthy, fiendish shouting and successively rabid riffs galore. ''Fall Under His Command'' is probably my favorite tune here, possibly because of its swirling panorama of guitar solos and a bulky, percussive main riff coupled with some more fanciful, tremolo picking episodes, but in the end, none of these tracks are really on a par with the premium material that was being released in '86-'87, nor do they cast a wide net of creative reinforcement upon the genre. Needless to say, I'd vie for the Belgians' sophomore over this any day for its sheer crushing majesty, but ''Brutal Destruction'' yet remains as one of those half-unearthed mid-80's speed/thrash gems that deserves a discovery (or rediscovery) at the hands of collectors or purists, and even beyond that it remains a spry and rampant declaration of the genre's hostility against those who supposedly flattened out its tires with tongue-in-cheek during the early 90's. Poseur-free as always.

Highlights
''Incest Love''
''Fall Under His Command''
''Long To Hell''

Final Rating
Mediocre [6.8/10]

Holy Terror - Terror and Submission [1987]

Perhaps the reason both of Holy Terror's albums are considered cult classics today is that their sound deviated greatly from their surrounding peers, and it still feels fresh today. The Californians never once shied from exhibiting their own, versatile influences, and, having an odder spectrum of influences from their counterparts who shamelessly aped Slayer, Exodus, Possessed and Metallica, I imagine they had a hard time coping with their difficulties that arose over the fact their sound was peculiar and the quite thrash machine-gun, especially considering many bands were still at their crude beginnings in 1987. Holy Terror formed in 1986, just one year prior to the release of their megalithic thrash classic, and afterwards, in 1988, they would release a sequel, ''Mind Wars'', also a tempered current of atmospheric thrash, right before disbanding in 1989. Holy Terror is now nothing but an addendum in history books, much like many of the emergent thrash acts that popped up in that period, but they've given us two wondrous classics for a multitude of glorious neck-snapping sessions, the former one being the better.

The Californians had a tight, punchy formula arranged from the start, guaranteeing triumph from the very start. Unlike so many other vile speed/thrash attractions of the time, who filtered the nasty, gritty violence of their chords with insatiable stupor, Holy Terror maintained their control with articulate diligence, and kicked asses just as intensively as, say, Toxik (''World Circus'' era), Necropolis, Blessed Death and other East Coast cults that literally sprinted with their guitar work. Of course, that's not just it. There is a delicious sense of professionalism sandwiched amid a passionate cry towards the glories of the mosh pit, and the five-piece merely play a simple helping of filthy speed/thrash here; the guitars are loaded with atmospheric considerations and can often burst into more epic proportions of thrash metal, somehow similar to the US power metal acts of the time. There is a subtle sense of western ambiance as well, certainly something you don't come across frequently, even in today's standards; a fluid, tempered set of gears motioning in a way as to allure a huge range of thrash aficionados, all rupturing through the static rawness of the core parameters of the recording.

Yes, ''Terror and Submission'' is that good. The rumbling tenacity of the rapid riff progressions are only matched by the accuracy of more complex patterns that are stitched to the broader forms of riffing to render them further interesting. I'm sure that listeners who were only mildly taken by the bulldozing plethora of riffs found themselves deeply immersed in a sea of Keith Deen's spectacular vocal performance. I'm totally going to sound like I'm kissing his ass here, but fuck, his timbre is one of the most original in the field of thrash;  a hoovering range of blessed high-pitched screams that I find to be the principle ingredient to Holy Terror's cult status and atmospheric, almost ''apocalyptic'' touch. Just take ''Tomorrow's End'' as an example; the dual guitars grind their way to the atmospheric pinnacle of the album, showering the listener with a blistering rain of tremolos, all while Deen is vibrating sonorously above them, a completion of the near-flawless tune for the apocalypse. Of course, ''Tomorrow's End'' is hardly my favorite piece here. The title tracks progresses with immaculate speed and efficiency, a viscous ray of melodies constantly protruding from the stomping barrages of base rhythm, an exercise of the traditional power metal formula, practiced upon a speed/thrash basis. ''Alpha Omega - The The Bringer of Balance'' is my favorite tune out the entire 42 minute thing, and having raped the replay button with that one, I can safely say that it's one of the foremost individual speed/thrash pieces out there.

The many evocative aspects of ''Terror and Submission'' transfer a plenitude of moods and imagery into the listener's mind. Yes, it's not so emotionally resonating as an atmospheric black metal masterwork, but it will still conjure portrayals of religious war, the apocalypse and desolation, something that, much like the band's other tenets, is seldom found on other bands. The leads are spurious and unforgiving. They start spurting their content out of nowhere, a delighting discourse through the entirety of the fret board, all of which are courtesies of the two masterful guitarists. I don't see how, after such copious and extensive right hand guitar work, the guitarists still get to keep their fingers, because this is one fucking blistering ride of nostalgia that nobody's bound forget so easily. So angry and forceful and dangerous that blasting this through your stereos on a vigorous car trip with your college buddies would undeniably make someone jump right out of the car, towards escapism and beyond. Yet ''Terror and Submission'' covers a wide enough territory to both decapitate necks and swirl like a controlled, seasoned tempest. It's carefully crafted, the intricacies well applied to the music, and it stands as an enduring thrash classic. Its sequel is also a great record, but the Californians would reach their climax in 1987. Speed and blisters forever.

Highlights
''Alpha Omega - The Bringer of Balance''
''Blood Of The Saints''
''Evil's Rising''
''Terror and Submission''

Final Rating
Masterpiece [9/10]

Terrahsphere - Third In Order Of The Sun [1991]

Though the 90's obviously did not provide with a wealth of thrash that was half as prolific or good as the 80's, emergent acts that culminated during 1990-1993 no doubt have a colorful, even mercurial appeal that I sometimes find to be superior to those of their more olden counterparts. I'm not claiming that New Hampshire thrashers Terrahsphere were bringing a slab of utmost distinction to the table, but they were certainly an enlightening band to come across during the years which thrash was slowly being torn asunder. Terrahsphere's sole album ''Third In Order Of The Sun'' was conducted by the underground entrepreneurs New Renaissance Records, which previously released an abundance of excellent underground obscurities from Soothsayer, Amulance, At War, Blood Feast and Dream Death to name a few; and I believe they found their perfect fit with Terrahsphere, a bristling, busy quartet of madhouse fugitives who don't shy from exposing their sympathy for science-fiction. Well, almost perfect.

You could really assert that the group is drawing influences from a number of suspects: early Toxik, Realm, Megadeth, Norwegian obscures Equinox, Sacrifice, and so forth, but to me they seem like an almost direct translation of Invocator's clinical, surging debut, only stripped up of some of the punch that really rendered the debut so hostile and raucous. Ah yes, the punch. Probably the sole thing that made me malcontent, but thankfully, the band deploys such a myriad of carnal, technical speed/thrash interpretations that it becomes nearly impossible not to succumb to the brisk, curving bevy of sci-fi induced grapple hooks, which take numerous forms of hostility over the coarse of the record, and what's more is that Terrahsphere have a manic vocalist behind all the superfluous machine-gun fire of acute tech-thrash spurts, a frenzied madman whose rupturing vocal cords gyrate between Flemming Ronsdorf of Artillery in his more rowdy days, Jacob Hansen of Invocator and Voivod's Snake. So whether it be the robotic tapping riffs of the opener, the Voivod-like chord progressions of ''Scioreality'' or the finalizing, frivolous leads of ''What Was And Will Be Again'', you've got yourself a genuine futuristic minefield, and every moment is explosive.

The single flare of the opener, ''Re-Emergence Of Atlantis'' is enough to inform the the listener that he/she has just stepped into the chamber of the sovereign of demented pandemonium, but bear in mind that Terrahsphere is not completely about razing, guitars and frenetic vocal output. Terrahsphere set the incomplete fundamentals of a sub-genre that could not reach large heights and would have otherwise boomed into something even more exciting. Sure, technical thrash metal with just faster tendencies is hardly a novel, even for the people of 1991, since Watchtower, Toxik, Deathrow, Hexenhaus and Mekong Delta dropped their pioneering works in previous years, but with the extra aid of fluttering craze behind technically adept guitars something truly attractive could have been born, but the number of bands worshiping the aforementioned acts are low today, so a tiny kindle in the lesser parts of the underground seems to have almost no impact at all.

And perhaps the blossom of such a sound would have occurred in future years by its creators, but unfortunately, Terrahsphere did not live long enough to shed more light on their aesthetics. ''Third In Order Of The Sun'' has its flaws, no doubt, mostly that it lacked the meat it needed to pack a proper punch and because, despite the proficiency of the guitar work, it's still somewhat held aback, a merely combustive fragment of the albums it vaguely tries to exemplify, but through a voluptuous, though not brutal vortex of cavorting intricacies, bound to each other by cajoling elements extracted from outer space, it makes for a highly vibrant and enjoyable listen, and a reasonably good achievement considering the year it was released. Fluent debut which is second in order of the tech-thrash constraint, bested only by the initiating masters of the sub-genre.

Highlights
''Scioreality''
''New Clear Day'''
''Re-Emergence Of Atlantis''
''Inheritance''

Final Rating
Awesome [8.2/10]

Savage Death - Crucified After The Genocide [2010] (Compilation)

Perhaps one of the most staggering and resonating sojourns into the mid 80's reservoir of extremity can be attained best through the unearthing of classic demos that no doubt had their impact on the local scene, but where later on deterred and trampled into submission with the rising of stronger, to be mainstream acts, but I still feel such obscurities stuck in amid the very ooze of time bear the essence of the true energy of their period. Really, any underrated demo could have served the purpose here, but in this case I've chosen one of my underground favorites, Savage Death. While band's body work is short; only two demos ranging at about 35 minutes, F.O.A.D Records has blissfully uprooted the band from their subterranean prison and has brought the two works of savagery to disposal, all the better for collectors of unveiled antiquities.

And delving into the demos, you'll find that Savage Death's material is hardly a novelty for anyone who has the slightest idea what crudities were being churned up in the US scene back then, but even so compared to many of its contemporaries' axe-work circa 1985-1986, this carries a reasonable level of aggression, extremity, along with all the fundamentals that comprised the anatomy of an average speed/thrash neanderthal. In fact, had the group started their endeavors a year or two earlier, they might have surpassed their fellow countrymen Possessed, all thanks to a roiling, gyrating tone to serve as an arboretum to Hellhammer, Celtic Frost and even some of the earliest crossover thrash examples that laid in the very heart of the US. That being said, Savage Death's compositions are hardly sentient interpretations of precision. The tone is highly muscular in contrast to speed metal bands who took their respective influences from primal power metal and NWOBHM footings, but at the same time it's twangy, high-pitched and takes up the majority of space in the mix, the other quadrants unequally given to the dissipating, feral inflection of the vocals and the raw clangor of the drums.

Despite all the one-dimensional perspective of acquiring belligerence through meat, bones, grime and evil that are highly prevalent in both demos, the 1985 ''Mass Genocide'' and the 1986 ''Crucified In Hell'' have their vague differences that help butter up and radiate the emergence of diversity on the entire compilation of songs. One of the core reasons for this implicit difference may be the change in drummers; as Eric Young picks up the drum sticks in the stead of Dave Marks to do some snare-battering action on ''Crucified In Hell'', a distinction in percussion ambiguously forms, and additionally, the ever schizoid Joe Barrows also makes some slight changes in his rancorous toning. ''Crucified In Hell'' features a stockpile of tremolo wails too, unlike its predecessor, and on the same demo, the band begins a tighter focus on traditional crossover aesthetics, as seen on ''I Impaled Your Mother'' and ''Kill The Posers'', while ''Mass Genocide'' was almost purely devoted the meaty, grinding edge of its hostile brute blade, swinging voluptuously.

It seems like these vandals could have burst and released an expunging debut just a year after their second demo, but sadly, their brief discography never saw the light of a full-length that would have even trebled their potential for creating unbridled blitzkrieg. Yet, I suppose we should be thankful the band released two demos of sheer mid 80's speed/thrash excellence. Even for a critic who takes all his/her music quite seriously, this is a traumatic, raw onset of nostalgia, in which case translates simply into interaction, interaction and interaction. Certainly a sumptuous feast for anyone who gets pleasure out of early Slayer, Metallica, Exodus, DRI, Possessed, and primordial South American textbook examples of death/thrash like Sepultura, Vulcano, Attomica and Dorsal Atlantica circa 1986-1987.

Highlights
''Mass Genocide''
''The Advisory''
''Evil Dead''
''Savage Death''

Final Rating
Mediocre [7/10]

Machinery - Divide and Conquer (Demo) [1988]

This nice little demo is a piece of top notch power metal. I know what you're thinking, but no, it's not your typical power metal that's full of melodies and dragons and tales of mythical beasts, this is more along the speed metal style, something that the American power metal bands perfected. 

Machinery's debut demo "Divide and Conquer" is absolutely brilliant. It's got plenty of variety in the riffs and overall structure of the music. There are some really catchy midpaced riffs that can easily cause some headbanging, especially on the track "Fools Paradise" and the opening riffs of the title track. The song "Bite the Hand" features an awesome chorus that reeks of Judas Priest influence, with the over the top vocals and a riff that wouldn't sound out of place whatsoever on an album like "Painkiller." While there aren't many melodies present on this demo, the solos do have some slight melodic tendencies at points, but for the most part the solos are more shred oriented and they fit the music perfectly. 

The bass doesn't really have any standout moments, but it is perfectly audible and when it does move along its own path rather than following the guitar the whole time, it is crystal clear and sounds fantastic. The drumming isn't anything spectacular, but it is consistent throughout and keeps Machinery in line. The vocals have a pretty good range, with parts that are clean and other moments where the vocalist decides to channel his inner Rob Halford, especially on the track "Wolves," just listen for the falsettos throughout. 

Overall, "Divide and Conquer" makes for a very fun listen and the material is pretty memorable. After you're done with the demo, the catchy choruses will be stuck in your head and the urge to put it on repeat will be inevitable. 

Highlights

"Fools Paradise"

"Bite the Hand"

"Wolves"

Final Rating

Awesome [8.8/10]

Abigail - Descending from a Blackend Sky [1993]

Abigail have dubbed themselves as the most evil band in Japan and with a debut EP like this, I'd believe that. This release is nothing but savage, relentless black metal with a trace of the thrash metal that will make itself more relevant in their later releases. This isn't like anything you'd hear from Norway though. It's just as cold and evil but as soon as the album begins, you know that it's straight outta Japan.

The raw production of "Descending from a Blackend Sky" adds to the evil atmosphere as if it's expected to be taken seriously but with broken English song titles like "The Lord of Satan" and "Descending from a Blackend Sky" (Blackened being spelled wrong, of course), it's gonna be taken as seriously as any Japanese metal album would. The album also includes chilling ambient parts as the beginning and in the middle that are actually really well done and I just love how well it blends with the evil, fast paced black thrash. They add a very oriental feeling to the atmosphere on top of what's already there.

The guitars on the EP are vicious and fast as if they were to rip through your body like a chainsaw. The drums are often quick blast beats usually followed or proceeded by typical drum beats. Simplicity's never sounded so good. This release might be primitive and simple but it's the very first stepping stone to the beautiful black thrash that Yasuyuki Suzuki continues to make and it's definitely a stepping stone in the right direction. I definitely recommend listening to this and the rest of Abigail's discography in you're in the mood for savage, flesh ripping black/speed metal.

Highlights

"The Lord Of Satan"

"Descending from a Blackend Sky"

"Count Barbatos"

Final Rating

Masterpiece [9.2/10]