Underrated Thrash Metal Albums Pt. 1 of 2

I started last week with death metal. This week I will be looking at ten thrash metal albums. Thrash metal is my favorite genre, but this was hard to do. I had a tough time with the meaning of underrated on this genre, so I went with overlooked bands, groups not in the major scenes, or if they were, groups that have not received as much attention. I strongly considered Morbid Saint for this post, but I have covered them quite a bit in the past and that album is getting quite a bit of recognition now.

I also had a problem limiting it to ten, but here we go:

DEVASTATION: IDOLATRY
Brutal thrash metal is not a sub-genre that gets thrown around often. But if any band, and there will be several in these two posts, show more of what brutal thrash can do, it's this one. Devastation was completely overlooked in the late 1980's/early 1990's and that is a major shame. Along with Sadus, Morbid Saint, and Demolition Hammer, Devastation played a major part in bringing brutality to thrash metal in the U.S.

SLAUGHTER LORD: THRASH 'TIL DEATH '86-'87
This is not technically an album, but rather a collection of demos. The reason for that being that Slaughter Lord never released a full-length album. The Australian thrash metal band can be looked at as a major influence on the Australian war metal scene, along with Hobbs' Angel of Death, headed by Destroyer 666. Their thrash was razor-sharp and brutal. The band was even covered by At the Gates on some bonus tracks for their Slaughter of the Soul album. Yet, very few people have actually heard this band. Strange.

RAZOR: VIOLENT RESTITUTION
I have talked this album up a little bit in recent weeks and it fully deserves it. Even for a Canadian thrash metal band, Razor is overlooked. And that is a major shame because they were every bit as good and powerful as any of the Bay Area bands. Providing tons of catchy riffs and infectious songs, Razor had a long run of great albums. This is my personal favorite by the band. Razor really should be a better-known band.

INTRUDER: PSYCHO SAVANT
This technical progressive thrash metal band recorded an absolutely fantastic album. Easily the equal of luminaries such as Heathen and Anacrusis. However it came out at the wrong time. It was released after Metallica's black album and thrash was becoming a bad word. Poor timing. If it had been released a few years earlier, this band could have been legendary. As it is, this is a fantastic example of the style of thrash metal.

DEMOLITION HAMMER: EPIDEMIC OF VIOLENCE
I name-dropped them earlier and here they are. Either of the band's first two albums could have been considered, but I chose this one because it was more apparent that the band knew what they were doing. Demolition Hammer is extremely heavy and brutal thrash metal. It comes close to death metal, without straying over the line. It is however, fast and brutal. It's rare for thrash to achieve this type of brutality.

Initial Impressions: Devastation: Idolatry

Devastation is an early death/thrash metal band from the U.S. The most comparable band is probably Demolition Hammer. Extremely heavy thrash metal bordering on death with harsh vocals. The album is largely forgotten because it came out just shortly before the grunge wave occurred which effectively killed off most metal as far as mainstream interest and success is concerned.

The band features several talented musicians and has explosive riffs, powerful drumming, and incendiary guitar solos. The vocals as mentioned above are harsh, but not quite death growls. The music is generally mid-paced thrash that occasionally moves into very fast tempos, particularly around the guitar solos. The solos themselves come from the Kerry King school of though: cram as many notes into a solo as fast as possible, but generally these solos are a bit longer than King's.

The album is a bit on the long side. Devastation is a band, like Metallica, Intruder, Dark Angel, and others, that believes is more is better. More riffs, more verses, more solos. Nevertheless, the band never wears out its welcome. This is a good album that is a forgotten gem.