Not exactly renowned for being a hotbed of thrash metal, Australia has nevertheless served up some quality bands over the years. Sadistik Exekution, Addictive, and Deströyer 666 all enjoyed relative success along with bigger names such as Hobbs’ Angel of Death, and of course, Sydney’s Mortal Sin, but in more recent years it’s been left to Melbourne act Harlott to fly the Aussie flag of hate.
A latecomer to the ’80s thrash scene, Californian act Evildead still managed to turn out two fine examples of speed metal riffery before disbanding, another victim of the burgeoning grunge movement. Aside from a single released in 2011, a first reunion proved fruitless, but this time the band includes most of the personnel from their 1989 debut, Annihilation of Civilization (SPV/Steamhammer), with bassist Karlos Medina (who played on the follow-up) completing the new and improved line-up.
Relative newcomers to the scene, Detroit’s Plague Years follow up their independently released 2018 debut EP with their first full-length offering, Circle of Darkness (eOne Music). Continue reading
All good things come to those who wait, and if there ‘s one thing Bay Area thrashers Heathen believe in, it’s making people wait. With a four year gap from their 1987 debut to the follow-up, followed by a nineteen year-long hiatus, a decade has now passed since The Evolution of Chaos (Mascot Records), so make the most of new album Empire of the Blind (Nuclear Blast Records) because who knows how long it will take for another one to appear.Continue reading
Formed in 1989, but with less than a handful of full-length studio albums to their name, Canadian thrashers Entropy aren’t exactly the most prolific act in the universe. A seventeen-year absence from 1995 to 2012, and a gap of eight years since their previous album hasn’t helped, but whenever the two remaining original members, vocalist Ger Schreinert, and guitarist Dan Lauzon, do eventually get together, the results are always worth waiting for.Continue reading