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Ladies and gentlemen, here are the Canadian defenders next door, those who wanted to play Thrash Metal, embody it, and become its bastions and benchmarks in the prolific North American scene, which included the ingenious Voivod, but also Exciter as a seminal band, and even Sacrifice.
They only partially succeeded because they played a simple and Mesozoic music, following precisely in the footsteps of Dan Beehler's combo, but they didn't entirely dispel doubts about their all-studs-and-black-leather attitude, which seemed a calculated move. In their sonic assault, the sole prerogative was to be as fast and heavy as possible. So here we are on board a Metal balloon devoid of melodic ballast, but inflated with machine-gun guitars and scathing solos, without epic, slow, or pensive tracks, with a transparent, sincere yet ancient writing ability that, indeed, generated some lively pages of healthy streetwise Thrash.
They didn't make a splash due to fierce competition and the limited budgets provided by the small label Viper, linked to Attic. The band was founded in 1984 in Guelph, Ontario, around the figure of guitarist Dave Carlo, who remained over the years as the group's only original member, enlisting other comrades from the Old School Metal scene invigorated by the new Thrash trend, such as the good bassist Mike Campagnolo and drummer M-BRO, a decent skin-pounder on this record. The mission was to build a retro Speed Metal catapult to launch against the burgeoning Fab Four of American Thrash, using their debut full-length as a projectile. To complete the posse of metal soldiers, they recruited screamer Stace McLaren, known as "Sheepdog", the shepherd dog tasked not only with offering a 'pot' place to the groupie sheep but also with forging vocal stylings on the anvil of "Metal On Metal", an altar immortalized by fellow Canadians Anvil.
After the self-financed mini-album "Armed And Dangerous", this "Executioner's Song" was released in April 1985, almost going face to face with Slayer's "Hell Awaits". At the time, I was in adolescent lethargy, so this album reached my eustachian tubes in 1992, after a binge of 1986 Thrash aged six years. Satiated and sleepy, I thought of using it as an ornament, but here I am, having metabolized it multiple times, with contrasting emotions due to the album artwork (the metal executioner), also induced by the group photo on the back cover, taken after a visit to the S&M boutique, and finally caused by the metallic fanfare unleashed by the grooves of this first "Action!" from the band. Lyrics about death, violence, struggle, concerts in an apocalyptic key between "1997 Escape from New York" and "Mad Max Beyond Thunderdome", in a blend of eleven tracks sometimes Speed, sometimes brisk, with the exception of "Distant Thunder" with its slow and dry gait, with corrosive vocals and Metal sound not strictly Thrash, as well as "The End", the reflective closing song, slipping over the rubble of the metal battle.
Opening with "Take This Torch", their "Hit The Lights", with producer Terry Marostega trying to recreate the sound of early Metallica and continuing with "Fast And Loud", which is more anthemic than fast, endowed with a decadent charm. "Hot Metal", "Gatecrasher", "Time Bomb", that is, the triptych representing the nocturnal happening of the Thrashers hooligans described with skill. It is noticeable that they are not clear about the sound to follow, which is still hybrid, but comparable, in terms of approach, to the debut album of Abattoir, albeit stripped of wild speeds. "City Of Damnation" is the hardest-hitting song of the batch with a buzzy sound and verses sung by Stace with a nasal voice, garnished with collective background vocals from the group, but the fact remains that the recipe is somewhat banal, though nothing less than decent: after all, it's 1985 (they know it too), so everything can still work.
Ultimately, a record that can be listened to, hardly appetizing for those who indulge with "Ride The Lightning": few purchase the album, myself included, considering Razor as lovable underdogs of Metal. Unexpectedly, they will surprise us with the second episode, so only the writing on the back cover remains, almost a program: "Welcome to the slaughter, I Hope You're having fun"
Tracklist and Lyrics
01 Take This Torch (03:18)
Searching in the darkness, searching for the light
Looking to the darkness, putting up a fight
Iron chains surround you, you try to make a run
Someone near has found you, and now you see the sun
Bright lights, now you can see where you are
Far, out in the universe
Now, you, try to escape from this spot
Hot, ready or not
Take this torch
Feel the white hot metal, feel it burn your skin
Experience the torture, pay for all your sins
Taken to the stairwell, taken to a cell
Scorches all your body, taste the wrath of hell
02 Fast and Loud (04:20)
Metal fury, metal sound
We'll rock this place right to the ground
Pounding drums, pounding bass
The look of anger in your face
Lights and action hit the floor
Speed and power, give me more
Molten mayhem, tempered steel
Love to hear the guitar squeal
Fast and loud
Loud and proud
Gotta rock hard
To please the crowd
Fast and loud
Power trip
Now's the time
To let it rip!
Spikes and leather fill the hall
Really want to please you all
Armoured fists, i see them shake
How much can our bodies take?
Sound of metal in the air
Time for you to get your share
Metal fans fill our dreams
Love to hear your metal screams!
03 City of Damnation (03:44)
Deep within these ruins is a city full of life
A growing force surpassing all the poverty and strife
An underground militia taking orders from but one
The right to choose who lives or dies 'til senseless victories won
The deadly prowlers are active through the night
To seek their vengeance on others who will fight
Can't see past the fact that they're fighting for their lives
The enemies seek liberation from something deep inside
City of damnation: aggression rules their lives
City of damnation: beckons them to die
City of damnation: on a killing spree
City of damnation: fighting endlessly
They cannot lose the power of a never ending cause
They reach with fear at better things ignoring all the laws
The street becomes a jungle and death attains respect
The bloody anger takes control and minds it does infect
Unending struggle complicates with sheer determination
Killing friend, killing foe, fulfilled extermination
They guard against the enemy to save the territory
A battle which results in death and takes away the glory
Trapped in streets of debris, they're masters at their trade
The fury and the violence will never cease or fade
Alongside all their rivals, dead bodies prove their loss
They're really only rebels both fighting for one cause
04 Escape the Fire (03:36)
The mighty clash, no time for fear
All civil rights are lost
Death to all the innocent
The unborn are the cost
Trampling through the human waste
As hopeless as it seems
A driving force, an inner flame
Compels to me my dreams
Try to cut loose, try to break free
I just can't climb any higher
They're closing in, for the kill
Escape the fire
Crushing down the multitudes
The depths of hell ascend
Mist upon a moonlit sky
Fades to oblivion
Wretvhed captors force their way
On those who will not fight
Bloodstained vengeance rules their mind
The fire's burning bright
Obsessed with total anarchy
The battle rages on
Regimes shall fall to the ground
We must prove them wrong
Destruction levels city streets
Product of desire
I realize my fate is death
I can't escape the fire
09 Deathrace (03:29)
Rebel racer speeding on Will you ever reach the sun? Blazing chrome, gleam machine Fastest thing you've ever seen Melting rubber clear a turn You can smell the tires burn Rapid speed, really steaming Beyond the realms of death With each unspoken breath There's nothing you can't face In a death race Straightforeward course not hard to hold Into the mists, nights so cold You create a battle zone Engine grinds to the bone Smell of gas fills the air Fuel leak, best beware Driving hard, no second thought Warning lights, don't get caught Aiming for the blazing sun So close he thinks the battle's won Fuel blows from a single spark Fireball lights up the dark Rebel racer is no more Battle's lost, black smoke and gore Time forgets another soul One more mark on the death toll Beyond the realms of death With each unspoken breath Explosion leaves no trace In a death race
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