A renowned speed metal release from the eighties... Fast, vicious and heavy this album lets us hear the glory of the 80s... While I fucking hate retro metal like Infernö, Bewitched that's not because I wouldn't like metal from the eighties. It's just because I don't like repetition sessions! Anyway, this one was recorded in 1986 and back then, I listened to Michael Jackson. So here before me lies the Century Media edition of the re-release.

I find this album pretty "heavy" for a speed metal album, perhaps because it is loaded with double-bassed beats by infamous Gene Hoghlan. It's got tight riffing all over the place, with Hoghlan's fast polkabeats and the mean and snarling voice of Don Doty... Doty is a madman, just witness "Perish In Flames" and "Merciless Death"! Guitar leads are of course ass-kicking (as speed metal is ass-kicking), fast and piercingly high. As a bonus, Century Media gives us three great live tracks (only the somewhat infantile audience can be irritating, but hey, those were the party-metal eighties, people).

This is pure speed metal and of course it is like Slayer. Actually, the vocals in "Death is certain (Life is not)" (wonderful title!) sound very very fucking much like those in "Metal Storm/Face The Slayer" by the inevitable Slayer. There are more similarities. Fortunately they are only similarities; this album is not a blatant copy. So, as opposed to Lord Vic, who starts his review with "Fuck Slayer.", I'd like to hail Slayer for inspiring a wonderful band like this. And guess what? They've made more than one album! On to the next one...

© 1999 dwaallicht