Whiplash: Ticket to Mayhem (1987)

Despite the kind of ridiculous album cover on this one, I have been looking for it for a long time.  Whiplash is kind of known for having a few ridiculous album covers.  Their debut puts this one to shame.  This is one of those hugely underrated thrash metal albums that has been a target of mine for quite some time, just like Wargasm's Why Play Around? and a few others that I have picked up recently. 

After an introductory track featuring the sounds of intense warfare, the band immediately kicks off into some high-octane thrash metal on "Walk the Plank".  Right off the bat, it is clear that this is a much more aggressive and brutal type of thrash metal band than many of the Bay Area bands of the time period.  Whiplash is from New Jersey, but they are also more aggressive than the Garden State's favorite thrash metal band, Overkill. 

Despite a somewhat slower, yet still very intense, second track, the album generally continues in the same fast-paced and aggressive style throughout most of the rest of the album, other than a few slower melodic moments.  Whiplash write some damn catchy riffs which often sound like a mix of Bay Area and German thrash metal bands.  Something of a mix of Exodus and Destruction.  Several of the songs are highly infectious and should be thrash classics if this album was better known.

This is a terrific thrash metal album from the 1980's, but it just fell by the wayside in a big scene.  That is a shame, but it has gained cult status among old school thrash metal fans.