Thrasherama Migrates!

Hi there!  If you've stumbled upon this blog and are wondering why it hasn't been updated in five years... it's because it's moved to this Tumblr blog here.  Come see and follow!

Destruction Hit London Tonight!

Yes, the German thrash titans play the London Camden Underworld tonight! Doors open at 1830, with support from Debauchery and Scared To Death. See you down the front!

VIDEO: Prong - The Banishment

Loving this riff and, indeed, song...

NEWS: Exhorder Are Back!

I finally caught up with some great news - the New Orleans riff-monsters Exhorder are back together after what must be around 15 years. Fantastic! Hopefully, this reunion will lead to their third album, following Slaughter In The Vatican and the truly stunning The Law. Now, if you haven't already, hit their MySpace page and show your support.

NEWS: Destruction: New Album Details

Here's the latest press release, folks...

"Destruction have announced that they are to enter Hansen Studios this week and reveal the title of their new album as "D.E.V.O.L.U.T.I.O.N."

2008 - 25 years of German Thrash Metal history has elapsed, but still the unrelenting Thrash Monster that is Destruction is hungry, out there and on your trail !!

Perfectly transforming their long held belief in Thrash, Schmier and the boys have written 10 destructive new Thrash hymns including blistering moments such as "OFFENDERS OF THE THRONE", "UNDER COMPULSION" or "DOOMED TO DEVOLUTION", and this upcoming album will re-write Thrash Metal history! Meaner and more musical than ever before, the German metal originator reports back after three years without a new studio record! Sure, “Thrash Anthems” put down a marker, but that was bringing the past stingingly up to date. This is the future. Mark the 29th of August as an “Official” THRASH METAL HOLIDAY folks!!!

Whilst you were enjoying the first rays of Spring earlier this month, Destruction’s three way killing machine was hard at work. Song-writing and final rehearsals are now complete, and Schmier, Mike and Marc will withdraw to the Hansen Studios in Ribe, Denmark with Jacob Hansen on in a few days.

"Celebrating 25 years of Destruction is of course an additional motivation to record a new classic”, reports Schmier with his characteristic “Code Of Honour”!! “But the band has never before been so well prepared for a recording, and the new material is very dynamic crashing straight in your face! All Thrash maniacs can now look forward to a merciless and varied album which will put its predecessors in the shade! Beware!!”

On the release front, the new album is set to be released here on Sept. 1st. And, Destruction will then devastate the musical landscape with their historic "25th Anniversary World Tour" details of which will follow in due course. There are also plans for a full DVD release later in the year; all in the cause of celebrating one-quarter century of classic German Thrash Metal with all the faithful fans worldwide!"

NEWS: Testament's New Album Out

The band's latest album, The Formation Of Damnation, was recently released. You can hear a couple of fine-sounding, riffy tracks on the band's MySpace page here. Tremendous!

REVIEW: Testament - The New Order (1988)

Firstly, a general note about this blog: it's become screamingly apparent that I don't have time to write reviews with the amount of detail which I've been funneling in. So, in order to keep the frequency of blog-postings up, I'm going to stick to short, no-frills reviews. Hooray! Thrasherama lives on.

For some reason, when The New Order came out, it didn't immediately grab me. Perhaps I was thrown by the band's newly-adopted 'moshable groove' approach, in contrast with the head-down tactics employed by their debut The Legacy. On reflection, though, The New Order may be my favourite Testament album. Its very simplicity is its strength: the tracks are often quite similar in their approach, but they're all great, with some brilliantly bouncy riffage. Disciples Of The Watch, in particular, remains a mid-tempo thrash classic. It all went just a little off-rails with the following Practice What You Preach and a couple of albums past that, but right here, right now, Testament were scorching.

RATING: 93%