Terror-Legion of Gore (7" EP)

Hells Headbangers Records
2016

Terror is a on-again, off-again, on-again Cleveland thrash band that can trace it's roots all the way back to the mid-eighties. I first discovered these guys on the 1990 compilation  "Heavy Artillery" and since then I've tried to keep an eye on their comings and goings. Between 1987 and 1995 this raw thrash band released a dozen demos(!) and those recordings eventually made their way onto two compilations. This 7-inch single features two songs from Terror's demo days that have been re-recorded for this day and age. "Legion of Gore" includes not only an updated & improved version of the title track, but a new take on "Carving Techniques". Both tracks sound like the Terror of old as they brutally combine classic eighties thrash and raw nineties thrash into a beast that is absolutely gnarly! Once again active, Terror could easily give extreme metal fans something to get excited about as there is FINALLY talk of new material! Since Terror was last active way back in 2002 this is some damn fine news for long-time fans and those who like their thrash metal to be as nasty and ugly as it gets!

Sanity's Rage-You Are What You Swallow

Dead Inside Records
2014

"You Are What You Swallow" is the full-length debut from Belgian thrashers Sanity's Rage. Original released back in 2012 (with the band's first recording, "The Rage Of One", having appeared some six years earlier!) "You Are What You Swallow" hit the scene ten years after this five-piece first got together and for a band that saw a shit-load of line-up changes over the years it is not only a good album, but an amazingly consistent one to boot! Kenny Molly leads this band and for fans of classic thrash metal this 11-track album should feel like a long-lost friend! Aided by some technical thrash elements, Sanity’s Rage has performed with the likes of Saxon, Testament, Lääz Rockit, Hyades, Savage Messiah, Helstar, Rezet, Huntress, Sacred Oath, Holy Moses, Agent Steel, James Rivera and Onslaught and one would have to think that their Bay Area thrash meets classic, old-school thrash sound just goes over like gangbusters in a live setting! Other than recommending the band's debut album for thrash metal purists of young and old there isn't much more to say about this Belgian outfit that hasn't been said before. As the album has already been reviewed countless times over online I'll simply toss in my two cents and we'll leave it at that. While Sanity's Rage might be reinventing the wheel when it comes to this kind of metal they are at least bringing integrity to the party seeing as "You Are What You Swallow" is not so much more of the retro-thrash loving nonsense that's over-saturating the scene as it is the sound of a band that truly lives and breathes the genre. That alone bumps them up in my standings, but this is one band that has the chops to back it all up and the talent needed to stand on their own two feet and go the long-run. Here's hoping "You Are What You Swallow is just the tip of the iceberg then as this band sure sounds as if they have a lot left to say!