Morbid Vision - The Firstborn (indie, 1998)

In 1998, thrash metal was definitely an abandoned field for most bands. The biggest part turned to groove metal in the mid-nineties when Pantera and Sepultura ('Chaos A.D.'-era) reigned supreme. Very few exceptions however still knew their roots and kept playing classic thrash. One of these surely is Morbid Vision hailing from Denmark. It's not really known when these guys appeared and when they split-up but The Firstborn from 1998 seems to be their one and only release. And it's like 20 minutes of 1988, kept inside a time capsule and unleashed ten years later.

There's many things I like but also about the same amount of things I don't like about The Firstborn. These guys surely knew how to play their instruments and the ideas were bursting in these four fast-forward thrash tracks. However, the drums are way too loud for my taste (even for me as a drummer), especially during the parts with the double bass the rest of the music seems to be drowned by the sound of the drums. Nevertheless it's impressive work on the drums. Second thing I don't really like is the mix of the vocals, it's too far in the background in comparison to the instruments. So basically, drums are too loud, vocals too quiet.

This EP might not exactly be the most known piece of underground thrash, that's mostly because it isn't available anymore. It doesn't pop up on eBay and stuff that often either. If you should come across a copy in the future, don't hesitate to get it! Might be the last time you'll see it ..

Through The Flesh - Nails (SJC White Wolf Music, 1990)

Funnily I know this small and totally unknown band for years. Funny because I digged into the underground of thrash and death metal only since a few years, certainly after I got to know Through The Flesh. I accidentally clicked on an eBay auction in 2010 (I think?), and suddenly was attracted to the somehow goofy artwork (look at that hand ..) and the complete obscurity this small record seemed to come out from. Seller stated it would be thrash metal so I began to seek after it without even knowing how it sounds like (there weren't and still aren't any samples all around the net). Then about a month ago (since 2010, imagine!) I saw it on discogs rather cheap (still more than double the price it was on Ironforce, so nice business made I guess) so I had to get it, and yeah .. now I have it.

Musically this was a huge let-down for me. It has four tracks, two have a somehow odd acoustic intro and then kick in. And also only half of the songs have hints .. I say hints .. of rather mediocre, mid-paced thrash. One track even has some rap metal in it. All in all it seems thrown together and the band wanted to put as many ideas as they had into the four songs. Less is sometimes more, I guess.

They have a second full-length from 1991 called Wounds, also on SJC White Wolf Music, which seems to be their own label, I'm searching that one as well.

Sadistikal - Cuestion De Tiempo (Frost Bite, 1995)

A friend offered me this hidden gem for trade lately. As I listened some samples on the tube I really liked it. It quite reminded me of country neighbors Sepultura from Brazil .. oh sorry, totally forgot to say Sadistikal hails from Argentina, a country that isn't exactly known for bringing out lot of metal. But certainly there was something going on and Cuestion De Tiempo is still a quite interesting thrash/death metal record and the band members are surprisingly capable of playing their instruments and building cool song structures.

This little secret was released on the small label Frost Bite which also released the quite well known death metal discography from Vibrion, also from Argentina. I have no idea how hard Sadistikal is to come by as I have absolutely no references for it, but if not too rare or expensive, it would definitely be worth getting.

Neophobia - Fear Of The Future / Nothing (Warhead Records, 1993/1996)

Some more Aussie goodness, this time with the discography of Sydney's thrashers Neophobia. These two CDs on Warhead Records gained a big hype in recent yeats and prices increased rapidly. While the first track on Fear of the Future (War!) is clearly their masterpiece in the vein of Nuclear Assault or Defiance (most of the rest is mediocre in my opinion), they managed to do a great follow-up with Metallica-like thrash metal and some hints of modern elements. The songs even tend do be memorable at times, a thing only War! manages to do on their debut album.

These two Aussie CDs can be considered some of the more obscure ones in the thrash metal genre. Hence they rarely pop up anywhere and if they do you have to accept the conditions of the cds. Both have wavy back inserts, due to bad quality .. I don't have the patience to search for copies in better shape though so yeah, whatever.

Nocturn - Estranged Dimensions (Old World Records, 1991)

I never knew what this band had in common with punk/hardcore or why they were on a label whose roster was mainly .. well, punk and hardcore. But Nocturn isn't hardcore nor punk, they play slow, punishing death metal with slight thrash metal influences. Don't let yourself deceive by the rather goofy cover artwork. You'll regret it as soon as you hear the evil vocals and the doomy riffs that open the album. The singer sounds like a more bleak version of Morbid Saint without the speed but with the great riffs. Most tracks on Estranged Dimensions are very long but it doesn't get boring all through. It's too bad this is one of those band which only had the chance to record one album before disappearing into obscurity, what might have been if this came out in '88 and their second full-length was finished before 1991 - I think it would have been a nice and slightly more mature mix between Morbid Saint, Massacre and some Winter-goodness, aah .. what could have been!

Old World Records basically has two records I care about. This one and Cry Of Terror's full-length which has slight hardcore influences. Both look ridiculously lost between all the hardcore releases on Old World .. and funnily they're the only two collectible releases on this label. Sadly the better of the two (Nocturn, obviously) is much, much harder to come by which is a shame. This has to be heard by more people. So folks, re-release this great piece of death metal already!

Animus - A Dead Life (indie, 1992)

Some say this ultra-obscure cd from Australia is limited to 100 copies. I have no idea if that's true, all I know is that I never saw this cd in the last few years except once, $1299 buy it now on eBay. Ended early, supposedly for a high three range sum. There aren't any sound samples on the net (about time I upload some) and practically any infos about band or this demo release. On metal-archives it's listed as power/thrash metal, but this cd isn't exactly that easy to categorize.

It definitely is far from your average Aussie metal. Some blastbeats (yes, blastbeats!) here, some death grunts there, then a power metal ballad. At first sight this seems pretty randomly thrown together, but .. although not very memorable or outstanding, this four song-demo is quite enjoyable and a nice, obscure but also expensive (if you'll find it at all) addition to the completists' thrash metal collection.