Toxic Holocaust – An Overdose of Death
Posted by douchemike on December 20th, 2008 filed in Black Metal, Stoner Metal, Thrash Metal
Long time underground darlings Toxic Holocaust were the first significant American Thrash revival band and “An Overdose of Death” their third full length and their debut for Relapse Records is definitely an album that lives up the hype. Toxic Holocaust have the most original sound of any thrash revival band and instead of taking the usual influence from the big four, crossover thrash and the bay area the sounds of 80’s UK Hardcore Punk (Discharge, G.B.H), 80’s First wave Black Metal (Venom, Bathory, Sarcofago) and Canadian Speed metal (Razor, Exciter) are most prevalent.
“An Overdose of Death” displays a style that is punky without falling into the usual D.R.I/Crumbsuckers clichés that say Cross Examination have, and the Blackened edge is exquisite as it is primeval and raw whilst taking the concept of blackened thrash further than the typical nostalgic Luddite concepts that plague the genre. With the Punk elements Toxic Holocaust are more reminiscent of Abigail/Barbatos genius Yasuyuki Suzuki (who Toxic Holocaust mainman Joel Grind collaborated with on the Tiger Junkies side project) than say Destroyer 666 or Nifelheim. The Speed Metal elements differentiate Toxic Holocaust from Suzuki’s approach with their meaty leads and classic metal-esque yet lightning quick solo’s making “An Overdose of Death” a very different beast from say Barbatos’s “Rocking Metal Motherfucker”.
Like all good thrash revival records this is a record that would have sounded as fresh as in 1985 as it does now. Listen to the riff at 0:40 of “Feedback, Blood, and Distortion” and tell you don’t feel the urge to hurl yourself at the nearest object of a similar mass to yourself whether it’s a water cooler or your grandma. If you don’t, then you should probably listen to Fairyland or whatever kind of lame metal most paintywaist’s like to listen to as this is one for real thrashers.
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