Maniac Within - Add Power To Spirit (CCP Records, 1995)

Okay, I didn't fall asleep, so here's another one of my 'lucky hits' in the darker corners of the web. So I googled this band, Maniac Within comes from Austria, a country musically known only for Pungent Stench, Disharmonic Orchestra or Disastrous Murmur (am I rite?), but there was another band more into thrash/death metal, the one I'm talking about here.

So they got some super obscure releases in the mid-nineties and nobody apart from Roco did have it on Discogs. But hey, that doesn't mean you can't find it on the internet, right? I found the actual page of their label, CCP Records, and it turned out they got three copies of Add Power To Spirit left, which of course I grabbed immediately. But imagine the luck I had, I mean, the page looked as if nobody did ever change anything since like 1999 or something, and so I wasn't really optimistic to even get an answer when I wrote a mail, but hey, I got the CDs, and I'm pretty sure you haven't seen one yet. :)

Assorted Heap - The Experience Of Horror (1MF Recordz, 1991)

Teutonic thrash back in the day wasn't just Kreator or Destruction but a well built little scene in the background that had just a bit of bad luck to be on the wrong labels (for example 1MF, which means 'one more flop', imagine!), or simply came to late to have an impact on the thrash movement really. I'd say Assorted Heap fall in the former category. While not even too unsuccessful with their debut The Experience of Horror, selling around 3000 copies, the label simply was a mess from what I heard (not paying the artist, horrible distribution, they even wrote the band name wrong, for fuck's sake! just look on the picture with the spine ..).

It's really a shame because Assorted Heap did a beautiful job on their debut full-length. Gorgeous death-thrash with strange solos, violent grunts from singer Didier (they all got funny names like Klause and Bänks, ..) and riffs that satisfy your needs completely! Very worth checking out is also their second effort Mindwaves from 1992, they even got a futuristic touch on that one. Unique!

Overthrow - Within Suffering (Epidemic, 1990)

Overthrow might be Canada's most promising answer to Devastation, Demolition Hammer or Morbid Saint. What they are unleashing on us with their debut Within Suffering is unbelievable. Face-melting riffs played at neck-breaking speed with a precision like a Swiss chronometer. It's a shame that these guys only released one album. When people say Tortured Existence is the heaviest thrash album of 1990, then they're wrong. This one takes the torch. Go find me another 31 minutes that are this entertaining .. good luck!

In recent years there was a reissue of this forgotten gem, the original on Epidemic Records got very rare and expensive over the years. I was lucky enough to get this one in a trade in almost perfect shape, admire it below.

Hazael - Thor (Loud Out Records, 1994)

Don't judge a book by it's cover, never! Best example might be this right here. The cover looks like a shitty.. fantasy metal or something, made available online only because the band couldn't find a record deal. This however, is great and grim death metal from one of Poland's finest, sadly also most overlooked metal bands, Hazael. Sure, they didn't reinvent the wheel with Thor and also came two or three years too late, hence the break-up in 1996, but this debut is entertaining, fresh and memorable. They even got a bit of a Swedish touch and got that awesome buzzsaw guitars that made bands like Entombed and Dismember famous.

The original cd was released on the small Polish Loud Out label, only limited to 500 copies. Same goes for Ghost, another forgotten Polish death metal band. I am searching that one as well, but it's a real fucker to come by for a reasonable price. At least I got this treasure here.

Tyrant Trooper - Insane Sickness (indie, 1995)

Like almost every music genre, death metal had an expiration date in the 90s. In 1995 when Insane Sickness came out the metal landscape was infested with groove and nu metal, mostly thanks to Metallica and Pantera. However, what Tyrant Trooper from Connecticut offers on their only full-length is unbelievably good. When they started out in 1987 they played a blend of thrash/speed metal until around 1993. You see they always came a bit too late in the game, but that doesn't make Insane Sickness any worse. From the awesome artwork to the riffs to the instrumentation overall, everything is pure US death metal without mercy. The only thing I could criticize is the length of the songs, with the longest one clocking in at almost eight minutes. But hey, skipping wasn't invented for nothing (not every song of course).

Insane Sickness was self-financed by the band, only a thousand copies were made. Most of them are in safe collector's hands, others are offered on eBay for ridiculous prices. If that doesn't stop you, go ahead and get it!

Burial - Relinquished Souls (West Virginia, 1993)

In the thanks list of this booklet it is written 'DEATH and MASSACRE for the godly inspiration' - wow, Burial from the Netherlands were honest, and they wrote a little death metal masterpiece with Relinquished Souls. It's like the record after From Beyond that Massacre never wrote. Everything from vocals to the guitars and the drumming screams US death metal, and it's done fuckin' well! Unfortunately Relinquished Souls remained their only release after the defunction of their label West Virginia Records,

Despite the fact that this album saw a re-release not too long ago the original press on West Virginia still fetches unbelievable prices on the internet. (600+ $ from the banana guy) My copy here is in great shape except the punch hole in the booklet which bothers me everytime I look at it, damn! Oh well, maybe one day I'll get a flawless copy for a good price .. maybe.

Caustic - Malicious (MMP Records, 1993)

First bands that come to mind when talking about thrash metal from my lovely home Switzerland has to be Coroner or Messiah. There were more bands, more obscure, but nonetheless great examples of metal done right. One example is Caustic. They formed around 1991 and released a first EP a year after. In 1993, they released their first full-length Malicious, a merciless mix of thrash and death metal with influences ranging from Slayer, Kreator to early Sepultura. I love this record! The vox are very similar to Tom Araya, not necessarily a bad thing, and there's even a little charm when hearing that Caustic hails from Switzerland (the singer has a little accent ..)

This record is hyper-rare and very expensive nowadays, released in only 500 copies on the small Swiss label MMP Recordings. Not even the band itself has copies of it anymore. And at last, an advice to you: instead of searching years and then spending a small fortune for it - you should get the recent official reissue on Dark Symphonies. Get it here.