Episode #6 - Caught in a Mosh
If (and you might want to bear with us on this) the solar system is connected by volume level where Maiden are the sun, Metallica the earth and so on, then we’re heading for Uranus, rock fans!
(Yeah, of course we could have gone with Neptune but where’s the fun in that?)
Anyway, the point is if it’s noise you’re after then this episode of Enter Sadmen very definitely fits the bill as the boys, armed with their vintage air guitars and a copious supply of Ibuprofen, head for the moshpit.
Where did Spinal Tap’s amp get to? 11? Ha, what was that for – some sort of glockenspiel instrumental? We’re nudging 1,000 here and just hoping we can be heard above the feedback to salivate over the merits of a trio of thrash metal grandmasters, none of whom are Metallica, Megadeth, Slayer or Anthrax. Yeah, we’re not sure why either, but doubtless the Big Four’s time will come…
Flotsam and Jetsam – Doomsday for the Deceiver (1986)
With under £10,000 to spend, Arizona pace aces Flotsam and Jetsam didn’t have the bucks to be hanging around when they ventured into the studio to produce their brain-splitter of an opening album.
They’d just managed to put the finishing touches to Der Fuhrer (I know – can you honestly imagine that nowadays?) as the meter ran out, and the upshot is a warts-and-all exhibition of head-down speed metal, thrash-speed, melodic speed thrash, call it what you will.
In fact, plain old fast as fuck probably fits the bill, so fast indeed that what notionally lasts 55 minutes seems to be over in about five. Not even Dynamo could pull that off.
Steve brought this to the party and has never sounded happier which shows what a sad case he truly is.
Overkill – The Years of Decay (1989)
Thrash’s nuances (er – are there any?) have tended to escape Richard, though he was more than happy to innocently stagedive into the bedlam with Overkill’s fourth release, The Years of Decay, ringing in his ears.
The band who emerged from the ashes of The Lubricunts (suddenly, Der Fuhrer doesn’t seem so bad, does it?) delighted their army of fans with this, their farewell to the Eighties.
But what did our jury make of it?
Which of our esteemed trio figured that Overkill were three bands in one? And which bands did he have in mind? Mastodon, Anvil and The Backstreet Boys perhaps.
And when one of them says he’s listening to a track I Hate, is he in fact listening to a track called I Hate or that he simply hates. If that makes sense.
Testament – The Ritual (1992)
The rules of Enter Sadmen are pretty clear. We go in chronological order which means Seventies’ throwback Mark goes first. He just does, ok?
But what’s this? Something from 1992? Has the man lost his marbles? (That’s a rhetorical question).
But yes it’s true, trailblazer Mark has turned backmarker, kept his 78s under lock and key for an evening and emerged triumphant holding this new-fangled thing called a CD, upon which can be found Testament’s fifth studio release.
Ne’er-do-wells Mark and Steve would question whether the thrash brief had been hit, but before they had a chance to protest were beaten into submission by the revelation that Mark’s first car was a Red Ford Escort 1.8 injection with a multi-changer CD player in the boot.
(Hello, my name’s Mark and I’m a bellend…)
