straw dogs - we are not amused

more rock than thrash, this shit still hits the spot... despite the singer's dorky vocal delivery. formerly the f.u.'s.

straw dogs - we are not amused

mx machine - manic panic

i had no idea about these old school ragers back in 1988 when they put out this masterpiece on restless. it took a posthumous flyer i spied in the early 90's to pique my interest in these so-cal retro-thrashers. as with many forgotten gems, i unearthed this artifact at ace's records during my 6 month tenure in florida in the late 90s.

mx machine - manic panic

snake nation

so i remember being completely on the fence over this c.o.c. related release when it first saw the light of day during the eve o' the eighties. now i'm wishing old man weatherman and company followed this path over their unfortunate lapse into lame sourthern rock that has since steered their career trajectory. i blame pepper keenan.

snake nation - self-titled

corruption of peace - confusion

first caught these fools on a kickass pusmort sampler 7 inch. wish i had a nostalgic tale of how i scored this gem but the sad truth is that i dropped 50+ clams for it on gemm.com. killer late eighties hardcore in the vein of attitude adjustment.

corruption of peace - confusion

let it bleat

so there's nothing remotely thrash-related about this great, great compilation but it's possibly one of the best (if only) vinyl documents of the DIY, seamy underbelly of hollywood's sunset strip scene. love it.

various artists - let it bleat

dirge - soulstorm

another band i first heard on the second installment of complete death, i unearthed this rare specimen at some nameless, forgotten record store on the far east side of columbus. guitarist jim hogan went on to play with stoner rockers solarized.

dirge - soulstorm

eastern front 2: live at ruthie's inn

back in the days before the interweb, there was really only one way to sample new music: trust your gut and hope that whatever record you picked out was as good as its cover art promised to be. sometimes you came away with a new classic, sometimes you paid the price. before long you discovered this thing called a compilation that made pulling the trigger on new music a little bit easier. i believe my first comp was speed kills, but it wasn't long before i amassed quite an impressive collection of speed metal compilations. this one here i remember as being one of my faves, but upon more recent inspection it's mediocre at best. disc one is perhaps the shittiest recorded live album ever pressed to vinyl. perhaps this is what sparked my lifelong aversion to live recordings. disc two, however, is where the real magic happens with some pretty awesome demo offerings from bay area obscuriosos like sacrilege b.c., chronic plague, death angel, anti-momb, blind illusion and more.

disc one
disc two

discharge - grave new world

i think this album is to discharge what cause for alarm is to agnostic front: an embarrassing foray into the scintillating excesses of metal. well, screw that, pal. i say this is the best thing discharge ever did. okay... so maybe the singer's pre-axl rose-ish screeching vocal delivery may ride the nerves of some, but to me he has the voice of an angel. this record also scores high on my nostalgia meter as it was the album discharge was touring in support of when i saw them at my first punk show ever. that's right! my daddy packed me and my baby brother into his '78 olds with care and drove us all the way to cleveland, oh to witness this melee! during discharge's set a miffed punk rocker heaved a full trash can onto the stage in protest of the band's newly found glam metal leanings! the mighty die kreuzen also played on this glorious eve.

http://www.mediafire.com/?njodjtg3ytz

fear itself - till death do us part

first caught these guys on the senseless death comp reissued by medusa in '88 and feverishly tried tracking down more material by them. my journey ended sometime in the late nineties when i finally came across this glorious vinyl crown jewel at ace's records in steamy tampa, fl.

http://www.mediafire.com/?zww2gezmj4y

tales of terror

definitely not thrash, but mayhaps the greatest punk record every made.

http://www.mediafire.com/?t5xjyjmr3tr

venom - american assault

alongside hell awaits and kill 'em all, i believe this was among the first thrash/speed metal albums i purchased back in the day. i think it sounds better now than it did back then, as these days i prefer style over substance... or is it vice versa? either way, i passed on ripping side two to mp3 as i've never been quite partial to live recordings.

http://www.mediafire.com/?nujynzzzylm

the dehumanizers - end of time

as with many jobber-class thrash bands, i was first introduced to the dehumanizers via the second installment of enigma/metal blade's complete death series. their cut proved to be a bit on the primitive side, but enjoyable nonetheless. a few years later when i was attempting to get into the indie zine racket with my brother and some fat, nameless loser classmate of mine, i received a tape for review by these whack-ass busters. much like fellow pacific northwesterners spazztic blurr, these jerks indulgently peppered their thrash/punk sound with juicy, sophomoric humor. the results were quite delicious and this album sounds as nifty today as it did some twenty years ago.

http://www.mediafire.com/?jnmtirnmxym

wild rags limited edition 2xlp

just in case you were wondering... no... there will be absolutely no rhyme or reason to the order in which i post these classy thrashy nuggets up here; which may shed light on why i chose this enigmatic obscurity from the close of the almighty 80s to begin my unholy trek. basically, i haven't heard this platter in years and was anxious to hear if the bloodcum and infamous sinphony trax stood the test of time. the answer? by god, yes. bloodcum easily make there way into my top 10 thrash bands of all kingdom come... sort of a snottier, more obnoxious little brother to slayer (in more ways than one... guitarist john araya probably imbibed many pitchers of cherry kool-aid listening to priest and maiden with big bro tom in his formative years), i first discovered bloodcum whilst perusing the "import" section of my tried-and-true local record mart. mesmerized by the name, i forked over my hard-earned allowance $$$ for their "hardcore demo series" 12 inch EP, tucked the platter under my right arm and trucked it home gummo-style on my bmx. i couldn't get enough of bloodcum's over-the-top yet uber-under-produced z-grade thrash assualt!!! more on these guys later! the other bands on this sweet, sweet gatefold comp kinda bite the big one with the exception of infamous sinphony... san diego's finest (and most mulleted and baby-moustachioed based on thier band pic). their debut LP was kinda underewhelming but their epic thrash ditties on this platter are effing righteous. interesting sidenote: their drummer ripped me off 5 bucks a few years later.

http://www.mediafire.com/?mxzg22mhm53

thrash will never die

i went to wal-mart the other day and their was this 14 year old kid strutting through the parking lot looking like he just walked off the sentence of death album cover. i thought to myself, "sweet jesus... if that kid ever finds out where i live he's gonna break into my house and steal all of my coveted punk and thrash albums that never received a proper CD release." so i thought i'd beat him to the punch and rip as many as i could to mp3 and post them on a blog... preserving their blessed thrash-tastic prosperity for generations to come. that, and i wanted to be able to listen to some of this shit on my ipod at work.