'Divide & Conquer' and 'Salvation' muddle along nicely, never quite reaching any quality that would make my balls tingle but comfortable enough. Love or hate Machine Head, McClean is a more than capable drummer and his presence here is felt from the off with the opening and title track kicking things off with some real gusto. Notable addition to the ranks for the current throng of releases is former Machine Head sticksman, Dave McClean. A live EP, a split EP with Iron Reagan and now a full length. 2019 alone has now seen three releases from Phil Rind and co. A couple more records better left forgotten about and then nothing for twenty three years. "Ignorance" & "Surf Nicaragura" did a great job of establishing the band, whereas "The American Way" just got a little to comfortable and accessible (the title track grates nowadays) for my ears. Whichever tier of thrash metal you consigned Sacred Reich back in the 80's/90's they still had their moments. Put down the PBR and pizza and take note, retro clowns. Class is in session for the new school, and Antichrist are the professors. Antichrist gets it all right, and it's painful that so many others can't pull their heads out of their asses and make something this ripping and awesome themselves. This is overflowing with sick riffs that sound familiar, but also original, with a bit of black metal melody and original vocals thrown in for good measure. I had heard the name Antichrist before, and after seeing them live, I can say that not only does this band step outside of the shadows of their idols, this is good enough to cast their own shadow over many of the albums that clearly inspired them. ![]() That's not to say that I have a problem with the idea of bands carrying on the thrash sound that died in the mid-90's, there have just been astonishingly few out of these new waves of retro-worshipers that can step out of the shadows of their idols and engage in anything beyond self-parody. If you're a fan of thrash at all, Phantasmagoria is a must.Īs a vocal dissenter of the supposed "new wave of thrash metal", finding a new thrash metal band that excites me is a rare occurrence. The Mist followed up this album with The Hangman Tree (1991, featuring Jairo Guedz on guitars, who left Sepultura after Bestial Devastation), also a great album, a so-so EP, and Gottverlassen (1995) before breaking up. Greyhaze Records reissued Phantasmagoria earlier this year-as well as some other Cogumelo releases-which has the original Micheal Whelan art. Also, the original cover "borrows" quite a bit from Micheal Whelan's Lovecraft's Nightmare A, which is kind of strange since it was done by Kelson Frost (who did the covers for the next album from The Mist, Sarcofago's Rotting, The Laws of Scourge and Chakal's The Man is His Own Jackal, among others). Notably, this album features Marcelo Diaz on bass, who later went onto Soulfly, and the voice of Vladmir Korg of Chakal. They were easily in the same league as any well-known thrash band at the time (far superior to quite a few of them), while still offering up their own unique style. How these guys don't get more recognition is beyond me. ![]() The Mist (Brazil) - Phantasmagoria (1989)
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
AuthorWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. ArchivesCategories |