The Denim Hordes arise from the Time Desert. In their war games, where thousands of innocents were casually slaughtered, a new music arose, imitating the rhythms of the wanton carnage perpetuated. In the temporal realms of Earth, this music manifested as............Thrash Metal!!!!!!!! Let's take a gander.
Infernal Majesty were one of those many great thrash bands from the 80's who for one reason or the other got lost in the shuffle. Actually, the reason this band is not as fondly remembered as, say, Dark Angel, or Forbidden, is that their second album plain sucked. Their entire reputation amongst 80's metal obsessives like myself and Demon rest on the merits of this awesome album, None Shall Defy. This is a technical riff smorgasbord in the vein of Slayer's Hell Awaits. There are several hundred thousand riffs, but a gloomy, Satanic atmosphere pervades. Tempo changes galore and a harsh rigidness of attack reminiscent of German thrash. Watch out for Skeletons In The Closet. Your head just may disconnect from your neck. This is a gleaming jewel in the pantheon of Canadian Metal. Winner of the motherfucking night, though by a mere pubic hair.
The next one we heard, Exodus's highly regarded thrashterpiece, Fabulous Disaster, is one of my personal favorite albums. Their first album gets the most attention as one of thrash's founding documents, but this is the album where they hone their sound to perfection, and utilize maximum musical brutality to its most logical extreme within the confines of the genre. The riffs slap your face with massive dicks, the time changes wrench your neck in several possible directions, and the guitar solos are delectable chaos nuggets. Even the sometimes gimmicky songs do not detract. Try listening while keeping your sanity intact. It's quite possible you might want to go beat up a fucking poser after listening to this album. You might go to jail, where they will stab you with knives.
All the albums we heard tonight were outstanding and really, any of these could have been the winner, though Infernal Majesty just a tad more evil than the other albums. Acrophet were another outstanding thrash band to get lost in the shuffle of 100's of band's thinking that they were going to be the big thing, a victim of the utter supersaturation of the thrash market that lead to its downfall in the early 90's, when you couldn't even play a backyard BBQ if you weren't down-tuned and whiny sounding. Too bad, because 1988's Corrupt Minds release is a solid album. This Midwestern band absorbed many, mostly American influence. Bay Area riffing meets New York style punk delivery with a grimy Chicago style street metal vibe. No epics and no song really stands out from the other; just an exercise in lively neck wrenching.
Aaah Teutonic thrash, is there anything that can take your place in this bleak and terrible world? Bloodmace and I have long shared a passion for Destruction, Sodom and Kreator. In the mid eighties, that triumvirate of titans revolutionized heavy music with sounds as daring as early Motorhead or Slayer. This was some of the heaviest music around and the lords of spikes and leather were rewarded with a loyal following among punkers as well as metalheads. What of the other bands though? Certainly there was more to explore on the the verdant plains of German thrash than just these three artists. On the night I speak of, we decided to take a closer look at this dark and satanic music
Necronomicon-self titled
You can say they sounded too much like Destruction, you can say the rhythm section in this band would have benefited from a couple weeks in a room with a metronome, but I find the first full length by these German thrashers to be of considerable merit. The youthful energy of this quartet comes off with a sloppy intensity that extends to the album cover and press photos from the era. Highlights would be the incredible "Possessed by Evil" with it's inspiring chorus and "Magic Forest," a tune that never fails to make me cackle with delight at it's ragged blasphemies. This album remains in my playlist year after year because Necronomicon had a special flavor all their own. They weren't the most original band, or the most talented, but they are my favorite and at the end of the night that's what matters.
Exumer- Possessed By Fire After the blast of madness that was the Necronomicon album, Exumer sounded almost mainstream, but a couple tunes into our journey, it started to really gel with me. I appreciated the weird changes in "Sorrows of the Judgement" and the razor sharp riffing on the Slayer-like "Fallen Saint." Vocalist and bass player Mem Von Stein, has a great thrash bark that cuts through the molten riffery guitarists Ray Mench and Bernie slather on to this forgotten classic.
Iron Angel-Hellish Crossfire
So
now we had seen a couple pretty great albums and the evening was really
gettin' crazy, luckly for us, we had chosen to jam Iron Angel's great
1985 platter, Hellish Crossfire. I love this album for it's speed metal
leanings and Dirk Schroder's unhinged vocals, for the great chorus on
"Legions of Hell" and the unabashedly D&D album art. These guys, like
Exumer, took some influence from American bands and mixed them with the
game changing aggression of their countrymen. After a fierce battle, I
declare Iron Angel to be the winners of German thrash night! Hail! 
Until next week, Invisible Invaders,
Horns
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