Eternal Nightmare

This album should be on everyone's top thrash metal albums list. Its brilliancy cannot be overstated. This album is able to combine speed, chaos, occasional melody, brutality and musical mastery like no other band has ever been able to do so before. When I first listened to it, I was binging this album for several days, because I could not get enough of the chaos, the destruction, the aggression, and the overall hurricane this album puts you into. Everything is on purpose, and every single little or big detail has a specific goal on the album. No mistakes have been made by Vio-Lence when they wrote this masterpiece. Everything is as great as can be and even greater than I would have imagined an album can be.

To highlight a couple of songs is literally impossible because every song is just as strong as the other. The brutal, violent melodies of "Serial Killer", the mentally insane bridges and breaks of "Phobophobia", the unrelenting destruction and fury of "Eternal Nightmare" all provide a different shade of brilliancy. Put on the album, and fast forward it to anywhere throughout its length. It is going to sounds as if it just began, no matter which point you choose. That's how energetic and relentless the album is. Eternal Nightmare grabs the momentum with the opener and does not let go until the very end.

The musicianship on the record is outstanding, to say the least. The drums are great, the bass is great, but I'd like to highlight the guitar work. Having listened to hundreds of thrash metal records, I am struggling to find an album I can compare this to. The riffs just BITE, RIP AND DESTROY. While the riffs being aggressive and sharp, they are not simplistic. They are very complicated, yet they make sense. There is a lot of them, yet they do not decrease in quality. The songs are relatively long, (Phobophobia, Eternal Nightmare), yet they seem like they were 3-minute songs. I do not know how they did it.

The vocal performance of Sean Killian deserves to be called one of the best (if not the greatest) vocal performances in the history of thrash metal. There were few other vocalists throughout the 80s that tried to give the impression of a psychiatric patient that broke loose from the intensive care unit. Schmier from Destruction, Mille from Kreator, Mem von Stein from Exumer, Lemmy from Violent Force, but nobody, NOBODY comes close to what Sean Killian managed to create on this album. His vocal tone is perfectly fitting for his style, and his technique is unbelievable. He sounds more disgusted, more pissed off than anyone, and ironic as well. If anyone asks me about what is the best vocal performance in the history of thrash metal, I'll instantly say that this is it right here.

Holy fuck, is this album one of the greatest creations in metal history. This is the ultimate thrash album. Everything you know and like about thrash metal is included, IN EXCESS. The album never ever stops to throw the twists and turns at you, and leave you in a state of absolute shock. 35 minutes of total madness. If you want to hear what thrash perfection sounds like, listen to this album. This makes records like Zombie Attack, Persecution Mania, and Endless Pain sound like some damn elementary school band's pathetic attempts, AND THOSE ARE ALL GREAT ALBUMS. It is just that Eternal Nightmare is on another level of brilliancy. The musicianship, the lyrics, the songwriting, everything is on another level of greatness. Well done, Vio-Lence.

Dear friends,

- get your bicycle,
- drive to the next record store,
- see a Repka artwork,
- buy the album in a matter of seconds,
- drive home on the shortest way,
- do not say hello to your parents,
- put the vinyl on your turntable immediately and
- start to listen, bang your head and play air guitar.

You guessed it, this is how the eighties worked. One of these albums was the debut of Vio-lence with the pretty individual vocals of Sean Kilian. While pressing many words in a line, he uses his normal voice and avoids high-pitched screams as well as an absolutely insane approach. Admittedly, he sees no sense in changing the pitch and he sounds less expressive than Paul Baloff or Russ Anderson. Nevertheless, his contribution adds value to the full-length, even though the guitar work is, of course, the crucial factor. "Eternal Nightmare" sounds as fresh and spontaneous as the first thrash albums that had been released a few years before. Its songs are not overly brutal and they also do not overemphasize the technical skills of the musicians, but the output is built on a more than stable thrash fundament. This is remarkable, because some parts of the material have a pretty mid-paced approach. However, the guitars add more than just the necessary dose of sharpness.

The dudes from California did not focus on a high degree of catchiness. The great background vocals of "Bodies on Bodies" keep sticking in the ear. The band uses this stylistic device occasionally, but here it appears as a really strong weapon. The staccato shouting of the gang lends the song a special flavour. Yet this catchy element remains an exception. Vio-lence follow the pure rule of thrash metal. They let the riffs do the talking and it is almost needless to mention that these riffs have an impact. The guitars paint a dark and sinister picture, while Kilian tells his stories of death and paranoia. No doubt, this combination works excellently, although the quintet is not immune against a few instrumental parts which are going nowhere. However, usually the band forms strong sequences and the opening title track does not only profit from a triumphant yet evil introduction. This feast of rasping guitars marks a very strong beginning and underlines the rather progressive than primitive approach of the dudes. But don't get me wrong when reading the word progressive - Vio-lence were light years away from formations such as Watchtower. They just did not prefer conventional song patterns while flirting with complexity, sometimes more, sometimes less.

Maybe this is the reason why exactly their shortest track, "Serial Killer" fails to hit the bull's eye. It's no bad song, but compared with the more multi-layered pieces, it lacks dynamic and coarse elegance. On the other end of the quality scale, one finds "Bodies on Bodies" with its impulsive beginning, its meticulously designed configuration and the precisely working background choirs I already mentioned. They ensure the song's great finale. Even the malicious "Phobophobia" cannot fully keep up with this highlight, albeit it benefits from constantly outstanding riffs, leads and lines. By the way, all songs rely on a great production. This is the authentic sound of the sub genre - and this means among other things that the bass guitar does not play a prominent part, but I don't care. So what is left to say? People who enjoy the debut of Forbidden are well advised to check this classic that conveys the spirit of thrash successfully.

Too bad that
- my bicycle is rusted,
- the vast majority of record stores has not survived and
- some medias try to tell us that shit such as Sabaton is great.

Why the hell did the eighties come to an end?

By the time 1988 came around, the thrash metal scene was in full force. Bands such as Forbidden and Vio-lence were latecomers to the “Bay Area,” but offered an infusion of fresh blood. In the case of Forbidden, it was unusual vocal lines and intriguing song structures that made them fairly unique. While Vio-lence didn’t prove particularly innovative, they did ignite the flame of raw aggression bands like Death Angel or Exodus had lost by the late eighties. Aside from having one of the most vapid names in heavy metal history, Vio-lence produced a solid debut, with one crippling flaw.

Two things become apparent the moment Eternal Nightmare comes to life. First, production values had come a long way since “Bonded by Blood” emerged from the bowels of hell. The guitars are thick, the drums are pounding and sharp. Thunderous, bludgeoning bass fattens the sound even further, permitting the songs to blast through the speakers and echo off the walls. A competent mix really gives this album an edge in terms of desired effect. The “effect” happens to be the second thing everyone will notice when Eternal Nightmare begins: the desire to rip the listener’s face off.

I take back what I said before; “Vio-lence” truly is the perfect band name to describe this auditory assault.

Pure aggression is the best way to explain the feel of Eternal Nightmare. Each riff has the intent to kill. Not once does the album show any mercy. It’s clear that Vio-lence wanted to explore the realm of sonic murder when they sat down and wrote the individual tracks. The result happens to be a collection of energetic, ambitious tunes; warfare personified by the crushing sound of thrashing madness. Unfortunately, the band forgot one key element.

Now, listen to my story (rather, read it):

The introduction to the title track was a light kick to tenderize the balls that were soon to be bludgeoned. Upon hearing the main riff vomit through the speakers, masochistic euphoria overcame all bodily senses. A wall of brutal, yet sophisticated noise smashed into my sternum. The drums carried each scathing note at supersonic speed with the atypical pattern made popular by the hardcore bands of the early eighties. My lord what an experience in pleasurable agony it was. I gripped the sides of my chair and prepared for the thrashing experience of my life.

And then…the first vocal line reached my ears.

Almost immediately, I lost bladder control. No, it wasn’t through any sense of awe at Sean’s ability to add venomous growls to the already ruthless riffs…it was a combination of disappointment and disgust. Imagine seeking out a vocalist to sing to the backdrop of Mozart and choosing a rapper. Sean’s vocals simply do not fit! Vio-lence must have been jerking off when they decided on a glorified punk singer to fill the role of menacing front man (story over).

Each and every song is partially neutered by the sub par vocals. Moments after the previously mentioned art of sonic homicide, Sean ruins the effect in an instant. It cannot be stressed enough how greatly a mismatched vocalists damages the pure, tantalizing anger Eternal Nightmare offers in terms of instrumental perfection: riff after brilliant riff: head smashing, pulsing drums: all destroyed each time Sean opens his mouth. To make matters worse, the vocal lines themselves are repetitive and lifeless.

Gammacide made the same mistake, but their music was not as impressive in the first place. Nuclear Assault had a punk-style singer, but their riffs were rooted in punk, so the vocals fit better. Vio-lence; however, wrote talented songs based on pure aggression akin to Dark Angel. With a Don Doty at the helm, Eternal Nightmare would have placed in the top five thrash albums of all time.

Fuck Vio-lence for choosing such an annoying dick-stain to front their band. I’m sure Sean is a great guy otherwise, but he’s an asshole for not displaying the dignity to realize he didn’t belong in the group. Eternal Nightmare is the ultimate tease in heavy metal history. A rating of 86% is based entirely on the instruments: that’s how good the music itself is. With a fitting singer, this album is a 97 or 98.

Note: I bet you ten bucks the member of Vio-lence that formed Machine Head (Flynn) chose Sean as a vocalist. If he had the poor taste to create such a shitty band, it’s of no surprise he’d be capable of ruining an otherwise monumental thrash album.

When I think of thrash metal that gets excessively fawned over to the point of derangement, I think of Vio-lence and their notorious debut Eternal Nightmare. That isn't to say that Eternal Nightmare is a bad album. That would involve ignoring or brushing aside a lot of the things that it excels at. And it does have a lot to offer on terms of blistering rushes of energy and mad-moshing riffage. But hearing this thing heralded as an unassailable masterpiece whose flaws are either nonexistent or hardly there strikes me as both annoying and dishonest. From Sean Killian’s “singing”, to the production, to some of the riffs getting lost in the maelstrom, there are plenty of things that hold this back from being an excellent album. Though, I guess this album is a testament to how far you can get with a load of great riffs and some blistering pacing, even if other things are going wrong.

The most obvious flaw for Eternal Nightmare is Sean Killian’s vocals. There’s no getting around that since he’s the lead singer and his voice is prominently featured in every song. He sounds like a kid who just hit puberty and ends up sucking the intensity out of whatever he’s singing over as a result. He also doesn’t vary his pitch much, pack a punch, or have a decent rhythm. Thrash metal isn’t exactly known for having great vocalists, but even Dave Mustaine is able to wrench an aggressive snarl from his voice, and John Connelly has some intensity and panic to his singing. Sean Killian can’t pull off the “bad guy” act no matter how mad he gets since he just doesn’t have the voice for it, and he doesn’t have the rhythm or range to be soaring or silly in a less obnoxious way. His voice just comes off as an obstacle to what is otherwise some fantastic instrumentation. Sure, I can listen past him to a degree, but hearing the sections where it’s just Phil Demmel and Robb Flynn ripping things up just makes me wish someone with more force or more rhythm was shouting in Killian’s place. His middle school-sounding voice also clashes a lot with the tone of the music which is way gnarlier and more aggressive than he could ever hope to be.

After that little rant, you’d expect me to be thoroughly annoyed and repulsed by this album, fixated on the vocalist, but there’s more to both this album and my opinion of said album than that. Aside from the bleeding guitar flurries of Flynn and Demmel, one of the biggest assets that Vio-lence have at their disposal is drummer Perry Strickland. This guy can put out consistently overdriven tempos and make his kit crack so well that it makes any of the build-up passages or mosh-oriented sections into something that makes you want to get up and run like a maniac. This is especially true on “Calling in the Coroner” where the riffs are already worthy of a massive body-slamming circle pit and makes them pound their feet into your stomach all the harder. And that song embodies all the best of this album, the riffs are punchy, defined, and infectious, and the dynamics keep everything at a fever-thrashing pitch, going from blistering solos into mighty gang shouts going “CORONER! CORONER!”, before finishing off with yet another solo. The gang shouts punctuate a lot of these songs and deliver good spiking bits of fierce emphasis, serving as a show of might and a great rallying call. All that considered, I can (somewhat) look past Killian’s infantile sugar rush singing to see some really cutting thrash that gets bodies moving and crashing into each other.

Speed is key to Eternal Nightmare. It’s the one element of this album that powers everything. From powering Perry Strickland’s cymbal-smacking, to driving Flynn and Demmel’s shredding, to being the ONE thing Sean Killian’s vocals are good for, speed is central to all that happens on Vio-lence’s debut. How well that speed gets utilized is also what sets many of the songs on this album apart from each other on terms of quality. “Eternal Nightmare” and “Calling in the Coroner” which handle their speed solidly, adjust the riffage to stay clear and distinct, and end up strong and punishing as a result. Other songs like “Serial Killer” and “TDS” get carried away with their speed and much of these songs end up feeling like a blur of guitar rumbling and drum smashing that has force and gusto while it’s going, but you’ll soon forget about afterwards. There are times it’s like listening to a buzzsaw with how fast these guitars rip. Memorability is a mixed bag on here where speed is king, and the riffs are as densely packed as they are. Though where the riff shines through, it does so with the force of the thundering tempo propelling it, rather than impeding or obscuring it. Vio-lence handles this speed with mostly favorable results even if it does lose a bit of its form in the process.

Don’t let my middling rating of this album fool you. I’m not saying this is average, bland, or even of ho-hum moderate quality. Eternal Nightmare is a case of strong mixed feelings for me. Where this album excels, it does so with the strength of a car crusher. Where it fails, it fails as badly as that hyperactive kid in the back of class during a hard test, First and foremost, this is a riff-oriented album and that’s where it’s true strengths lie and where you should be looking to enjoy this album. Sure, some of these riffs get lost in the chaotic cyclone of guitars and drums, but that’s the price you pay for pushing the envelope on speed this hard. There’s also the obvious and unfortunate matter of Sean Killian’s vocals which clash hard with the intense and rampaging demeanor of this album. He can be ignored or listened past to a degree, but his presence is so “in the foreground” of Eternal Nightmare that it’s hard not to feel put-off when he starts jabbering. Due to the fact his voice is so prominent, it hurts this album a lot and that’s a shame since everything else is performed at an expert standard with enough speed and vigor to knock over the San Francisco skyline in a brilliant rain of fire and ash. Eternal Nightmare is an excellently written and pummeling thrash album that easily loses itself to the madness of speed and could be classic if only the very fastest riffs were a bit better defined and the vocalist had more force, depth, range, or rhythm. The praise it gets is somewhat deserved, but it does have issues.

To be fair, doing a critical review about Vio-lence's debut is much easier than doing one for Entombed's Left Hand Path (as I did yesterday), since there is no pioneering spirit about Eternal Nightmare - absolutely nothing progressive - unless your idea of progression is the band seeing how far through your skull Sean Killian's rabid vocals can knock the riffs of Phil Demmel and Robb Flynn. Basically, this album is about refining thrash rather than doing anything new with it, which by the time 1988 rolled around was probably not a sensible choice, but oh well. After all, I'm the only guy on this website who doesn't like Ride the Lightning, so I'm not all for tinkering with the basic formula, even though I also don't think that thrash generally has a wide enough appeal to make most albums consistently interesting.

Since it's time to be critical, it would be extremely foolish of me not to head straight to the main bone of contention with this album, which is Sean Killian's voice and the largest reason why any fan of metal would be turned off Eternal Nightmare. (Barring the vagina with teeth on the cover, of course.) People have mentioned before - extensively - that the man can't sing and I'm sure Simon Cowell would agree within the first 10 seconds of his audition simply by shaking his head and saying firmly, "No. Go home." Really though, I think it's more that Killian can't rap, which results in the landsliding feeling of songs like 'Phobophobia' and 'Bodies on Bodies', since he doesn't have any sense of rhythm and just tends to keep rambling the lyrics out over the end of bars and straight into the next line. If you wrote the lyrics down they would look more like a paragraph from your lawyer than anything approaching poetic form. The actual lyrics aren't bad at all actually, the slightly over-the-top tendencies of 'T.D.S. (Take It As You Will)' and 'Phobophobia' certainly suiting the manic approach and matching the speed of the riffing, which is still the top cause of car accidents involving long-haired males in the Bay Area. Nevertheless, Killian's tone is the distilled form of punk rock beating up Dave Mustaine's snarl, meaning that his constant presence can be like a really annoying friend. Case in point:

the kind of friend who just suddenly interrupts whatever it is that you happened to be talking about and slews in with his own take on the given subject at hand, sometimes making points relevant to the discussion but really just talking because he likes the feeling of excitement when he speaks really fucking fast and it's just occurred to me that Sean Killian would probably make a pretty fine Olympic swimmer because those guys need to hold their breath for a long time sometimes and of course speed is a prime factor for any kind of athlete though I would imagine that Killian would probably be involved in a doping scandal because his pace really isn't natural at all (guitar solo) and he might be banned from the sport but would then get a sponsorship deal for something maybe an energy drink but it doesn't matter just that his fame would be mostly based around his somewhat annoying tendencies.

Gaaaasssspppp!

Let's talk about the other guys for a bit. You would probably expect me to take the piss out of Machine Head for a while if I'm trying to make people see the weakness of this album, but actually I want to mention Perry Strickland, who is frankly put in a very difficult situation regarding his duties on Eternal Nightmare. Since the only option is to play fast (and then play more breakdowns than usual to compensate), Strickland has to contend with the typical thrash beat for about 80% of the album, which one can hear causing problems throughout the first two minutes of 'Bodies on Bodies', seeing as there isn't any change-up in the playing, making for a slightly monotonous beating, which usually takes all the fun out of being beaten. When the band drop into mid-pace - or, rather, a less frantic fast pace - for the mid-section of the song, the diversity of beats and the addition of some fills is much tastier and leaves the immense gang vocal shouts of the title sticking out a mile from the forgettable opening. Since most of the songs are longish (five of them reach five minutes) the riffing doesn't always have quite enough diversity to make all the parts memorable either, meaning that if you were played a clip of several verse riffs from 'T.D.S.', 'Calling in the Coroner', and 'Kill on Command', you probably wouldn't be able to distinguish which song they were from.

That's not to say of course that the riffing isn't absolutely fantastic for the majority of the time, with every song having at least one movement to rip your head off and teleport it to Sudan, quite often coupled with an exploration of some riff idea or other, plus several excellent solo sections. The closing moments of 'Kill on Command' do exactly that, smashing the same riff into higher gear through repetition at ascending pitches, though you would be hard pressed to better the massive groove that begins at 4:09 in the title track or the utter onslaught of pace and heaviness that takes 'Serial Killer' into speed metal realms. Interestingly, Dean Dell is a big part of the latter, playing his bass in a more standard heavy metal style than his bandmates, though still remaining absolutely frenetic in his engineering of another element to the sound. He gets a little solo in 'Eternal Nightmare' too, which sets up the second guitar lead in great style. Therefore, there are some brilliant moments and even a touch of ingenuity in the mixture, though another criticism of the album is that sometimes it takes a bit long for some songs to build up a foundation before beginning to cash in on the formula. With only seven songs and a 35 minute runtime, Eternal Nightmare is certainly not overlong or hiding filler, though the structure of the songs is more predictable than the chaotic style would firstly suggest.

You know, it's always easy to find fault with an album that UltraBoris gives 97% to, since there's no doubt that it will only do one thing - thrash relentlessly. Then again, Vio-lence delivered one of the best relentless thrash albums with their debut and it's worth mentioning that this is a hell of a lot of fun and shouldn't be mixed with caffeine or oration contests for the safety of the public. Besides, it's probably better to aim for perfection with one thing than settle for decency with several. It's a yes from me, Simon.

Eternal Nightmare is one of a rare breed of classic thrash albums which managed to remain super focused, concise, and energetic throughout its entire playtime, partly because that length itself was used as a boon. Reign in Blood would be the prime example of the form, and rightly so, but here Vio-lence offers less, and longer tracks. There is no fluff, no excessive padding here, no attempts to dramatically shake the listener's mood back and forth throughout, and its brevity was always a virtue on car rides, daily jogs with my Walkman, or executing the types of whacks hinted at through some of the lyrics. I'm kidding on that last one. Well, I assume I'm kidding, it might have been true for some person or persons out there, but the point still stands...there is a hell of a lot of awesome packed into this 35 minutes, more so than most albums in this genre 15-25 minutes longer, and it was truly impressive for a debut album, so it's no wonder it drew the attraction of MCA/Mechanic right out of the starting gates.

Speaking of 'starting gates', the opening to the titular "Eternal Nightmare" might just win the award for metal tune which most puts me in the mindset that I'm about to participate in a bull fight, or to stroll out into some gladiatorial match, the sun just starting to rise above the upper levels of some colosseum onto the jeering crowds, and the sands beneath. It's only about 30 seconds until the faster licks arrive, but just with those opening, clashing chords and the belligerent melody that rides in on them, you know you're in for a massive melee, and that the band is already living up to its moniker. Then the frenzied winds whip up the dust, and it hits that :42 second mark riff and HOLY FUCK. It's as if equal parts testosterone and kerosene have been translated into pure audio form, the envy of six trillion pizza-thrashers 20-25 years later that would try to emulate this along with their favorites from Exodus, Suicidal Tendencies, Forbidden, Nuclear Assault and D.R.I....failing miserably. Because when I was a teenager myself, still rusty with the six strings, Eternal Nightmare is the exact sort of album I'd sit around trying to pattern out with the limited education I had on that instrument. The very essence of thrash's evolution from its punk and trad metal roots into something distinctly more keen edged and abusive. A whirling, whipping cloud of razors that haven't gathered any rust even as I sit listening so many years after its introduction.

The album places its mid-paced or 'breakdown' sections perfectly, like around 2:20 in "Calling in the Coroner", Sean Killian spouting out his post-vehicular-homicidal narratives over a total moshing of a riff. You want to jerk your neck around so much to parts like this that you'd end up on the back of the ambulance with the other remains. The brighter, more melodic picking progressions sprawled across the album in places like the intro to "Phobophobia" were always fresh and memorable, well in line with the better material from their Bay Area peers but recognizable to Vio-lence alone. There's also not a lot of dissonance over this album, it's all bright and sharp and bloody. Atmosphere is delegated more to the combative nature of the riffing and the imagery manifest through the lyrical themes of murder, injustice and mental instability. Killian's voice, which has long been the band's most divisive factor, took a higher pitched, malicious and manic approach that you'd rarely have heard outside of Bobby Blitz. He'd often raise the pitch, over and over, through individual verse lines, like a preacher in heat to his sermon. Somewhat nasal delivery, but unlike say a Joey Belladonna, there was a lot more aggression and unrest packed into it. An 'I'm on the edge of flipping my shit' aesthetic. When you contrast that style against the gang shouts or the meatier rhythm guitars, it definitely stands out, so I'm firmly planted in the camp that enjoys him.

The rhythm section here is also incredibly impactful, with kinetic and pumping drums, plenty of fills to clutter up the performance so that it teeters on the verge of the more extreme styles being put forth by several of his Californian peers. Bass lines do largely conform to the rhythm notes a lot but at least the tone is strong and not subdued, capable of striking off on its own when there is less business on the strings above it. There are some blistering guitar lines in tunes like "T.D.S. (Take It As You Will)" which wouldn't have been out of place on an emergent death/thrash record, and the leads across the album are uniformly wild and explosive, throttled off into abandon. Even if not entirely memorable or technically impressive, this is arguably the best way to write them...or NOT write them. Just let those man-chemicals well on up from the vital organs and drip out through the fingers and joints to the frets. Production is honed, metallic, and suits the band's energy level perfectly, giving all the guitars and vocals just that much more of an edge...a danger that simply isn't inherent to a lot of the watered down disciples of this style that would arrive later on. This album is a killer through and through, there might be 2-3 riffs throughout that sink it just a fraction below perfection, but it is thrashing royalty nonetheless, mandatory for both 80s enthusiasts and anyone else who values the idea of a fire lit under their ass when listening to metal, the feel of shit about to throw down.

-autothrall
http://www.fromthedustreturned.com

When listening to Vio-Lence's “Eternal Nightmare,” it seems almost as if the band took a giant blender the size of Mount Olympus, packed in as many crazed riffs and shredding solos as it will physically allow, and you, the listener, happened to be dragged in for the ride. While this silly and cheap hyperbole can be applied to a multitude of albums, here it really sticks – because rarely will you hear such a spastic, unabashed riff-fest of a thrash album. Many bands come close, but sometimes they often seem too preoccupied with injecting unnecessary ballads, slow atmospheric parts, catchy vocals, and sing-along choruses into the mix. Unlike some of their more well-known Bay Area thrash compatriots, Vio-Lence never lose sight of what is important.

What should be this album's objective weakness is really its true strength – in that it is really isn't much more but a large pile of riffs; quality riffs that take what came before and build off the next, creating a patchwork of an unrelenting sense of hyperactive chaos and urgency throughout. Although they offer virtually nothing innovative, and do not try to, the band surely does what they do better than most, and their sound is unmistakable. Vio-Lence take the pre-established, gleaming thrash aesthetic of Bay Area bands like Testament and Exodus, inject much more of the raw, hardcore punk influences of the East Coast thrash fair of the likes of Anthrax, Nuclear Assault and Overkill, and slather it with much of the gritty intensity and blinding speed and aggression of Slayer or Dark Angel; though Vio-Lence is arguably as thrashy, heavy, unhinged, riff-dense and interesting as the sum of those bands combined.

Especially for a Bay Area-release, “Eternal Nightmare” stands as a pretty damn heavy album, with much of its heaviness being derived from its pure punk-fueled rage and rather crunchy guitar tone. The album has hit that rare jackpot in which the production seems to fit in that nice valley between unabashed raw authenticity and studio cleanliness, leaning more on the gritty side of things. It can conjure up an aesthetic of what Exodus, Testament, and The Big Four were doing in the mid-late eighties without much of the glitter and polish, though I feel most comparable would be a much heavier version of Anthrax's “Among the Living.” The guitars pack a trebly crunch, though in very few instances I do wish the production were as thick as it is on their follow up album, it would make the more nimble, higher register riffs such as the opening of “Phobophobia” and “Kill on Command” a little more imposing. Dean Dell's bass is perfectly audible and pungent, and drummer Perry Strickland's crazed and gimmick-less bass-snare assault is really fucking loud in the mix, which completely adds to the album's signature sound, and for that I am truly thankful. Some may call it sloppy, I call it amazing. Vocalist Sean Killian's hyper-rapid, punk-injected, syllable-spewing bark fits the music absolutely perfectly, and the lyrics which he re-wrote for the album are especially twisted – some of the lyrics deal with people who are particularly good at what they do, namely themes of sadistic dictators, prolific serial killers, professional government-employed hitmen, and the talents of a gifted coroner on the tracks “Bodies on Bodies,” “Serial Killer,” “Kill on Command,” and “Calling in the Coroner” respectively. None of the songs have sing-along choruses, rather the refrains are often accompanied by hefty gang-shouts by the rest of the band.

Though not overtly technical or progressive, the guitar-work here is fairly complex – primary songwriter Phil Demmel and relative newcomer Robb Flynn employ a fairly wide array of thrash rhythms and styles, often within the same riff or section, ranging from blunt tremolo patterns to more rhetorical hooks, to complicated, rapid shredded styled fretboard riffing gymnastics. The riffs are so excellently put together that most of them are highly distinct and memorable despite their sheer velocity and relative intricacy. Rather than routinely cycling through strict verse-chorus structures with ad nauseam repetition between a limited number of riffs, some parts undergo compulsory rhythmic and textural variations, rapidly shuffling back and forth between a set of riffs within their vast and unpredictable pallet of material, creating a blurred sense of rushing tension and organized disarray. This is best heard within the 'start, stop, then throw your spine out-of-order' nature of the iconic title track, whose opening material takes the simple introductory power chord progression and gradually transforms it into a battering riff array throughout, as well as the band's hyperintense, gang-shouting-clad flagship song – “Kill on Command.”

“Serial Killer” and “Bodies on Bodies” are the more meat and potatoes thrashers of the album, while the band's sheer lunacy is epitomized within the crack-cocaine-infused madness that is the 220+ BPM “T.D.S. (Take it as you Will),” especially with its frenetic, Darkness Descends-esque trilled opening riff and tremolo-picked riff mongering. While the band will on minute occasion slow down with some more mid-paced, muscular guitar-work, the album still, by-and-large, smacks you around with a crazed array of manic speedball riffage. The more down-tempo tracks include “Calling in the Coroner” (which was penned by Flynn during his tenure in Forbidden), and part of the first half of “Phobophobia;” the former showcasing the most heavy, churning grooves on the album as well as gnarly gang-shouts near the end; the later boasting an epic middle section as well as the most spiraling and memorable performance from Killian's fucking glorious, Timmy from South Park on crack styled vocals.

This one is for fans looking for a beefed-up, hardcore tinged, million-riff mayhem ventured within the leagues of 80's Sepultura or Demolition Hammer, with the animated and fun-loving ethos of Exodus or even Anthrax. “Eternal Nightmare” is pure riff candy – a rollercoaster of shredding guitar genius, and it's really hard to believe that the same guitarists who brought you the chugga-chug bro-core you hear on the albums “Supercharger” and “The Burning Red” were once the skilled thrash craftsmen you see here.

Kill! On Command! Kill! On Command!

This album is like buried treasure. It’s incredibly hard to find. It’s rated extremely highly (a lofty 96% on this esteemed site at the time of this less-esteemed writing). I won’t lie, I’m a little sketchy on late-80s thrash debut albums. After the dick-hardening year that was 1986, new thrash bands began to sound a little generic. The scene started to get increasingly crowded and at a loss for fresh new sounds and ideas. That’s how we got thrash with the intensity of an old man at a nursing home who can’t quite hit his shuttlecock over the net (lookin’ your way, Sacred Reich). That oversaturation is how thrash DIED, kids.

So thank god for “Eternal Nightmare,” the diamond in the late-80s Bay Area rough. OK, there really aren’t many new ideas here. So what? An album can be good and unique without breaking any new ground. And that’s “Eternal Nightmare” in a nutshell. There are some pretty obvious Exodus influences here, namely in the dual guitar work, but the execution sounds much tighter. Oh yeah, and the bass is actually audible. Good work!

Without trying anything breathtakingly new, Vio-lence managed to take existing Bay Area tropes and make them their own. “Eternal Nightmare” is influenced by the classic Bay Area bands without being derivative, carving out its own small niche in the genre. Stylistically I think “Eternal Nightmare” is best described as the bridge between the scrotum-punching rowdiness of “Bonded by Blood” and the (somewhat) more sophisticated “The Legacy.”

Let’s take a second to appreciate what a heap of praise I just bestowed upon “Eternal Nightmare” with that last sentence. Yes. This IS quite a good album. It’s actually better than a few standard thrash classics…like “Bonded by Blood.” Heresy? Maybe. But it’s heavy metal…we like heresy.

That speed and crunching heaviness of songs like the title track, “Photophobia,” “Kill on Command,” and almost everything in between holds its own with the big boys and manages to rise above most of the lesser-known Bay Area bands. Bucking the trend at the time, “Eternal Nightmare” shows that Vio-lence weren’t just another band with a stylized logo who could pull a few fast riffs out of their ass. They had the chops. They could have been a contender.

Vio-lence's debut album 'Eternal Nightmare' comes thrashing on the waves with sheer brutal force. Do not expect anything less starting from the first song until the very last. Vio-lence had one thing in mind and that was to blow your fucking face off with their crushing riffs and obnoxious attitude. This is successfully pulled off with Robb Flynn (Guitars), Phil Demmel (Guitar), Sean Killian (Vocals), Deen Dell (Bass) and Perry Strickland (Drums). A band very close between its members and above all, incredibly ambitious. This shows in their tightness as a band and in the unmitigated power each song contains on this epic album. Vio-lence were ultimately cohesive with each other and to prove this Robb Flynn & Phil Demmel still enjoy their partnership today in Machine Head. Anyways, getting back to the album I can confirm this is a thrash metal classic without a single doubt and is up there in comparison with the other heavy weights.

The album starts brilliantly with self titled track 'Eternal Nightmare'. An introduction which draws you in immediately and only elevates as it continues. The riffs are fast, chunky and essentially catchy. Mid break-down with chanting backing vocals is sure to hook any thrash loving human being. The riffs are infectiously memorable and this song in particular is a lesson on how to craft the perfect thrasher. Starting off with an immense intro which literally gets you on the edge of your sit anticipating what riff is going to blast after and when that comes just make sure there's no fine china around you because that's going to shit. The music on this debut gem is a riff bible for moshing. The album just continues its ravaging from there. Fast, mean and infectious. Again, high velocity riffing, bass is prominent and Deen Dell does his job very well and sometimes you can hear that hardcore/punk edge in his playing. It blends in well with the chaos. Vocals are razor sharp and just in your face. Lyrics, mostly surreal and obscene. For some people the vocals annoy them. I'm not sure why because I believe they are unique and do not follow an already existing formula. Maybe it's due to the reason that there isn't any melody which might sound memorable or something you can really sing along to but hell there's enough chants and backing vocals on this album to scream too and believe me, it's fun. Or maybe it could just be the tone of this voice. You either love it or hate it (I don't think Vio-lence would care either way). Regarding the guitar duo both guitarists are trading off blistering solos in near enough every song. A very strong performance from them. The drummer pounds away like a maniac and check out his chops. He shows his technical skills and proves to be a very vital member indeed.

One other truth is the fact that no riffs are recycled and by listening you will realise each song has a completely different structure. The production in my eyes is great as the sound equally matches the riffs being vicious and loud but clear. We're talking about a band who have come onto the scene a little later than the other bands of the era and to prove yourself worthy you need to come out with a bang. I can assure you, they succeeded.

This album is for thrash metal lovers and if you do love this style of music it is classic and timeless.

Stand out tracks:

Eternal Nightmare
Serial Killer
Calling in the Coroner
Kill on Command

I remember seeing an advert sometime in ’86 in the long since defunct metal magazine ‘Metal Forces’ for a free demo tape of fledgling Bay Area thrashers Vio-lence, all done through the MCA label subsidiary, Mechanic. I dutifully wrote out my little cover letter and enclosed the self addressed envelope and set about eagerly awaiting the tape to come screaming through my letterbox. It never came.

A few months later in the same mag there was a note from the band thanking everyone for the huge response to their demo and apologies to those that didn’t receive it due to it selling out because of huge demand. Why was I so disappointed, I’d never actually heard them so I wasn’t missing out on anything …” was I?

Fast forward 2 years to 1988. Metallica had unleashed ‘…and Justice for All’ on the world and fast, uncompromising ‘thrash’ metal was really delivering the goods. I thought …’Justice’ was one of the defining albums for ‘our kind,’ along with others from 1988 such as Voivod’s ‘Dimension Hatross’, Megadeth’s ‘So Far So Good…So What?’, Slayer’s ‘South Of Heaven’ and Death’s ‘Leprosy’, until I did what U2′s Bono couldn’t do – I found what I was looking for. There, in a little backstreet record shop in sleepy Bridgewater, Somerset of all places, was Acid Reign’s e.p. ‘Moshkinstein’ and even more importantly, the debut long player by Vio-lence, ‘Eternal Nightmare’. After reading about their live shows and being caught up in the band’s buzz, it was finally in my hands and just the look of it was already generating so much intrigue that I could hardly contain myself. The cover was another Ed Repka masterpiece with a poor soul falling, along with his bed, down the Sarlak looking, teeth brimming series of all devouring open mouths. This really was an eternal nightmare I thought. The back cover had the lyrics printed over a picture of the band set around a car wreck in a scrap yard and they just looked the business. Bring it on …

The title track bursts into life and even now, 21 years later, the twin guitar work still blows me away. Tight, precision riffing sprints out of the starting blocks courtesy of Phil Demmel and a certain Robb Flynn, (At that time, Flynn had migrated from fellow Bay Area thrashers, Forbidden ” another great band with a lot of songs co written by Flynn on their quality debut album ‘Forbidden Evil’) accompanied by the frenetic drumming of Perry Strickland and anchoring bass of Dean Dell. The ferocity and sheer intensity of the material is wondrous and the unorthodox voice of Sean Killian, for me, just adds that edge, that uniqueness that hadn’t been heard in this corner of the market before. Often a bone of contention for some, Killian’s vocals are the Marmite of the thrash world, you either love ‘em or hate ‘em. Me, I loved ‘em from the off. I genuinely feel that when I hear him screaming his line “Reality’s slipping and your mind’s caving in/ Submitting to the web that you constantly spin/ It’s over the edge with the straightjacket on/ Dragging you down to the world you belong,” in my mind’s eye I can see him thrashing against his belted tight straight jacket, eyes bulging and mouth frothing as he bounces against the walls of his rubber room. More to the point he doesn’t let up for the full 35 minutes.

‘Serial Killer’ ups the ante further with yet faster riffing, faster drumming and the immortal vocal “Run for your life I’m the serial killer I’ve come to bury you today/No family, no funeral, no rosaries for Slain on this hillside – MY SILENT GRAVE!” following the opening metallic click of a weapon being cocked. This is thrash heaven.

‘Phobophobia’ slows the tempo down in parts with some tasty axework, mixing in elements of chug amongst the high speed riffing and vicious vocals as they tell the story of a mental patient’s struggling battle with their own ever fraying mind.
Closing side 1 is the monster that is ‘Calling In The Coroner’. Covered by Stampin’ Ground on the Blackfish released ‘Tribute to Thrash’ some years ago, it’s a bone fide classic. Its not the fastest, most complex tune the album offers but possibly the most accessible, even garnering the band’s first unofficial DIY video and the closest thing to a ‘hit’ they would have thus far.

Side 2 kicks off with Perry counting in T.D.S (Take It as You Will), with more guitar histrionics, more speed, more intensity and more aggression following. The middle section lets you digest the telling of drug addiction, infection and overdose as the pace drops slightly yet the intensity level remains high.
Next up, ‘Bodies on Bodies’ opens with a quick flurry of drums and yet more speed riffing as the more traditional slasher killer/zombie/death lyrical content is spewed forth by the ever manic Killian, along with the perfected Bay Area instigated gang vocal chorus, making the track an aural Friday the 13th of sorts.

Closing the album on track 7 is ‘Kill On Command’, the final heads down lets go for it speed attack on this thrash metal masterpiece. The subject of contract killing is Killian’s final agenda point and it’s backed up with barked backing vocals aplenty and a brief solo mid section simply begging for the mother of all circle pits, before the rev counter is pushed back into the red for the increasing speed of the final furlong.

The original layout of the album had ‘Torture Tactics’ finishing it as track 8, however the band’s label, Mechanic, were literally horrified with the lyrical content (which includes torture by teeth drilling, the pulling out of fingernails, ‘c’ clamping heads, slicing off skin and killing a family’s children while listening to them scream) and flatly refused to put the album out if the song was included, so it was begrudgingly dropped. The 7 track album was eventually put out by Mechanic without it. A re-recorded Torture Tactics was finally aired on a self titled ep in ’91 following the band’s second album ‘Oppressing The Masses’ through Megaforce Records. The band split after ’93′s disappointing 3rd full length ‘Nothing to Gain’, however Robb Flynn later put together a small garage band out of Oakland. He followed the example set by Vio-lence by recording a demo he then made available to the public for free (and I didn’t miss out on that one!). This then led to him signing his new band to Roadrunner and them releasing a rather good debut in ’94 ………..

The ultimate thrash metal album of all time is undoubtedly Slayer’s ‘Reign In Blood’. It always has been and probably always will be, as in ’86 when it came out, the likes of its speed, precision and intensity had never been heard before and no one has managed to top it since, including Slayer themselves. If I’m giving ‘Reign…’ a perfect 10, I’m giving Eternal Nightmare 9.9. Had it had come out 2 and a bit years earlier, before ‘Reign…,’ the timing would have made up that 0.1 and I honestly wouldn’t have been able to separate them. Now press play and listen to the quality of music Robb Flynn used to play ……

Stand out Tracks: Eternal Nightmare, Serial Killer, Phobophobia, Calling in the Coroner, T.D.S (Take It as You Will), Bodies On Bodies, Kill On Command

Like many bands, Vio-lence is well known to thrash metal fans, and not to outsiders. This is due largely to the fact that Vio-lence never sold out, their sound was fairly consistent throughout their somewhat short career, and this album was the beginning of their sound.

Vio-lence arrived fairly late to the scene, only releasing their debut album in 1988. This meant their popularity was fairly limited, and thus the length of their career was cut short. Still, in their short years as a band they produced many good records. What they delivered, was a great example of basic thrash metal done right. While there is zero experimentation found here, the band does their brand of thrash better than most. The riffs are fast and the drums furious. Their songs were significantly less technical when compared to their peers, such as Forbidden and Death Angel, but this is what made them different. They stuck to good ol' thrash. Still getting this album made was a challenge, as vocalist Sean Killian kinda sucks, and this something that really limits record company interest.

This album consist of 7 tracks, all equally as thrash as the last. They all display how guitarist Robb Flynn and Phil Demmel, had they had a better vocalist and more time to evolve, could have been names along side those of Dave Mustaine and James Hetfeild. Their guitar work here is quite impressive and all the songs here have great instrumentals. Robb and Phil's dual guitars are put to good use here, and create some catchy, badass riffs. These are all really great songs.

However good these songs may be, this is not the way to get them. If you have time, try and find a high quality recording of one of their live performances. As good as this album is, Vio-lence really were a band you needed to see live. It's hard to find, but if you can find a high quality recording, that is how you want to go about getting these songs. Still, they are still good songs here, and totally worth the money if you ever find the album in your local record store. The issue with this album, is that is really showcases how poor of a vocalist Sean Killian is. It takes many listens to get used to his voice, and you never come to love it. It isn't odd or quirky like the voices of Bobby "Blitz" or Dave Mustaine, it is just legitimately bad. He can never seem to keep up with the ferocity of the band's music. Still, this is a great album, and a thrash must-have.

Vio-Lence. "Underrated" is the first word that comes to mind, as they are often forgotten yet truly loved within a circle of thrash cultists. These Bay Area juggernauts pounced during the second wave of thrash in the 80's when most bands moved into a more technically proficient direction. Not Vio-Lence! They were still content to mosh themselves and you into oblivion with riff after unrelenting riff, thank you very much. As is the case on their debut album "Eternal Nightmare", loaded with bloodcurdling guitars, booming bass and the band's infamous vocals.

The tone of the band is interesting for the bay area. They come off as rather punkish in their aggression, and wouldn't be terribly out of place with East Coast badboys like Overkill or Anthrax. Future Machine Heads Robb Flynn and Phil Demell are on show here before stooping so low, and are pretty fucking formidable guitarists. Think Metallica's guitar tone but more deranged. The bass of Dean Dell is a great highlight. It's actually quite audible; not heard constantly, but it pops up often and Dell lends some mean rhythm and his own brand of riffage nicely to the mayhem at hand. The drumming of Perry Strickland is not bad but nothing to brag about; basically little more than just pummeling the skins in typical thrash fashion. Lastly we have the infamous vocals of Sean Killian. What can I say about him? Well, if you haven't heard him before, he can't technically sing. Like, at all. It's more along the lines of nasally, punk-fueled ranting. Yet, I don't terribly mind him. Sure he gets grating at times but it all really adds something to the music that other bands don't have. So overall, thanks for sucking yet also being awesome Killian.

Though admittedly repetitious at times, all seven songs on here are otherwise a pretty cool runaway train of killer riffs and dark but sarcastic horror movie lyrics. My personal favorite ranks in as the immense title track, also probably one of the best thrash metal songs ever composed. You'll be humming the main riff all week, and the chaotic solo is unforgettable with its billion or so riffs and choppy but solid time changes. Fan favorite "Serial Killer" slashes unready mortal listeners its memorable chorus and ragged speed riffs. "Phobophobia" is nifty; it starts not unlike the aggression of the title cut, but then transforms into a more crushingly mid-paced affair. In my opinion, "Bodies On Bodies" has the best gang vocals (a Vio-Lence staple) on the album, while "Kill On Command" makes for a worthy closer with some of Killian's (slightly) more streamlined vocals and another killer main riff to hook on to.

Overall, this is very worthwhile thrash. Though at times repetitious and though some may be put off by Killian's vocals, the work done on here still kicks ass. The guitars and even the bass are very good, not to mention the plethora of riffs. I recommend you get a hold of this and crank the stereo for all it's worth!

It is difficult for me not to get happy when “Eternal Nightmare” is mentioned: the album is one of the most mosh-worthy albums in the history of metal. It contains almost criminal amounts of creativity and mid-paced fun and it is surely groundbreaking. Not groundbreaking because Vio-lence was an ambitious band that was trying to start a thrash metal revolution (if I am not wrong the band was simply a bunch of mosh-loving people with some very good ideas), but because few albums have so many elements impossible not to recognize in a single package. Sean Killian’s amazing voice (although he wasn’t exactly good in terms of technique before Oppressing The Masses), the somewhat muddy but very creative riffs and the loud-as-fuck bass with a timbre that thrashers still try to copy today are among the things that made Vio-lence a great band with an unusually large cult following.

The album’s opening is arguably the best of the genre: I have yet to see a riff or sample that builds up tension better than the memorable but slow introduction that pierces through your ears at the beginning of the title track, and the series of fast percussive breakdowns that succeeds the initial riff put you in the perfect mood for the thrash madness that is coming. The drums eventually slow down, but at that point, you are already eager to break your neck against the stage. Or the wall. “Eternal Nightmare” is, after all, a very good track, and even if bands often put the best track of the album as the first one (I am looking at you, Angra), when the song reaches half of its duration it is impossible not to feel that the rest of the album is going to be just as great. It is a shame, therefore, that the following track is perhaps the weakest of the album. Serial Killer is the fastest track here, but while it has fun vocals and some good riffs it feels too average to be even compared with the 6-minutes thrash monster that the listener has just left behind.

Thankfully, Vio-lence does not let your disappointment last for long. The third track, “Phobophobia”, is not only longer but also better than Eternal Nightmare – and I didn’t hesitate when making that statement. Eternal Nightmare is a great track, that is for sure, but Phobophobia is just flawless. The progressive-influenced, mid-paced song is Vio-lence at their peak, with tons of riffs mercilessly crushing our souls while the phobophobic guy depicted in the lyrics struggles not to succumb to his own madness. The song starts out slowly, gets more complex as you progress through it and peaks at a solo that is aggressive and short yet disturbingly beautiful. The relatively simple yet unusual riff that opens the song would also make a decent opening for an album – and if Eternal Nightmare’s introduction was not that good, I am sure that Phobophobia would be picked as the first track. This track should be a thrash anthem, something to be played at all weddings, and to this day, I am impressed by how many metalheads have never heard it – or have never paid enough attention to it to appreciate its greatness. Even the vocals –which are unusual but not exactly great- fit extremely well with the music.

Oh yes, the vocals. How could I forget about them? Sean Killian is a step lower than the rest of the band, and not several steps, as some people believe. He displays enough aggression and creativity during the album, having a sense of melody that some thrash metal vocalists unfortunately lack, but at “Eternal Nightmare” he still clearly had a lot to learn. His peculiar voice was probably the reason why he was picked to sing for the band, and it is a shame that his peak would only come at Oppressing the Masses – a good album that never really takes off despite the marvelous vocal performance. That and the muddy nature of the guitars due to a very raw production are the only major flaws present here, but the band compensates those flaws with the godlike riffing that is almost omnipresent in the recording.

The four tracks that are left after” Phobophobia” never reach its almighty level – but they are undoubtedly great. I would say that “Bodies on Bodies” is my personal favorite, but the quality of the album’s second half is pretty much uniform. During the last 20 minutes of the album, we get to see more catchy riffs, more loud bass and more unusual vocals, and yet the songs are remarkable enough to stand out by themselves. All of them are mid-paced, which seems to be the most comfortable terrain for Vio-lence (the only very fast song of the album ended up being the worst one), all of them are able to generate enough mosh to kill someone and all of them are undeniably fun to listen to.

Not only is “Eternal Nightmare” the release that best represents the spontaneity that I love about the thrash metal scene in the eighties but it also is a remarkably good effort in the technical level. With this release, Vio-lence proved that you can make long thrash metal tracks that are good from beginning to end (the average track length is five minutes) and in order to do so, everyone played their ass off. Sean Killian does not really live up to the album he is in, but he is still able to deliver a satisfactory performance. The production is raw, as it should be with every thrash metal release (although sometimes it feels too raw) and the riffs are energetic, catchy, aggressive, and ultimately fun.

Throughout the 80's many bands managed to leave there mark on the thrash scene. Some getting far more famous and commercially successful then others, while some were left to leave there mark and fade away into the underground history books. Although this is definitely not a popular album it is definitely not a hidden gem. More then likely if you have spent any amount of time digging into the thrash scene you will have heard of the band Vio-Lence. This album is easily there masterpiece.

Eternal Nightmare is a ridiculous moshfest of an album. Every riff, every verse, every solo, every moment is perfect. There are only 7 songs on the album but all are of a serious length besides Serial Killer. The album starts off with the title track, Eternal Nightmare. It slowly builds up into becoming one of the stronger songs on the album. Serial Killer is a short, sweet, in your face burst of speed. The music on this album is all tightly sewn together. Nothing feeling out of place. Even the crazy vocals of Sean Killian fit. They are often erratic and speedily spewed out sounding almost like a punk singer. You can sense the in your face attitude this band possesses while listening to this album. Phobophobia continues this thrash masterpiece on its way. Then my personal favorite of the album hits you like a ton of fucking bricks. Calling In The Coroner is in every way perfect. It is not as speedy as some of the other songs but it is just as heavy and intense with some truelly great lyrics. Continuing the Vio-lent theme of the album. T.D.S. (Take It As You Will) is about drug addiction. Reaching its pick at around 3 minutes this song continuously keeps you banging your head. This whole album keeps you intrested. Bodies on Bodies is another classic thrasher off this album. Anytime you think that something is going to be overused they switch it up. And who couldnt live the chanting of "Bodies on Bodies on Bodies on Bodies." The song goes off into a little stop where you feel like it is going to end then it bounces back at you. After that dose of awesome they hit you with the final assault, Kill On Command. A story of a hitman and his apathy for peoples lives as he kills them. This song consist of some of the strongest riffs on the album. It almost has a familiar feel to Bodies on Bodies. The way it bounces back towards the end. Except this is far more intense. They obviously knew that they wanted to end this album as strongly as it began and they did a masterful job of doing so.

This is in my opinion a top 5 thrash classic. The music is as lethal as the lyrics. Vio-lence manage to be just as heavy as Slayer without really reminding me of Slayer. There are of course downsides to this album for some. Killian's vocals definitely arent for everyone. He is wild and erratic and im sure they could have picked a better vocalist for the band. But i am glad they stuck with him. Definitely one of the more defined voices of the thrash genre. But if you are not a fan of him you probably will not enjoy the album. Which is a shame to miss out on this 35 minute mass of riffs because of a vocalist. Another downside is the factor that it is only 7 songs. One more song would have been fantastic. But in a way the 7 songs is ok. Im sure it would not have been as focused if they had to add another song. Every song is perfect and i wouldnt have it any other way. Definitely a masterpiece deserving of the title.

Alot has been done in the thrash metal scene since 1988, the genre arguebly has been created by Metallica in 1983 when they relased their debut album, Kill 'Em All in 1983. Since then, both that album and their next album, would be important albums to shape up the genre known as thrash. Metallica, along with Overkill, Exodus, Megadeth, etc. all made classic thrash albums in their own right. However, none of them quite top the brilliance and perfection known as Eternal Nightmare form a relatively unknown band known as Vio-Lence.

It took five years since it's birth in 83 to perfect the genre in one whole album. However, Eternal Nightmare is a thrash classic that has never been topped, nor will it probably ever be toped. This album is thrash metal perfection. Everything that a true fan of thrash can possibly need is in this album, from the fast and heavy rififng from Rob Flynn himself, to his crazy soloing that not only tops Kerry King's lighting fast picking, but also displays it in a melodic sense without any wankery.

Also add in some lightning fast drumming, and some angry vocals from Sean Killian. While his vocals do take getting used to, especially at the first or second listening, once you get used to his unorthodox style of singing, you realize that he brings alot to the table after all. He can probably go neck to neck with Paul Baloff in terms of balls. Though, his vocals are generally higher than Paul's.

The production is also very good. The guitars sound very crunchy, which was typical for 80s thrash, but sound nice on here. The drums and the vocals are mixed in nice as well. The production is kind of on the raw side which is perfect for a thrash album.

I can't pick out any real highlights for this album, because every song on here is perfect and flawless. However, there are some tracks that stand out more than others. These tracks are the title track, Phobophobia, Calling in the Coroner, and Kill on Command. All of these songs display a strong sense of fast and heavy riffing along with some insane solos. Phobophobia probably stands out the most, because the main riff is catchy and shit, and demands some headbanging.

About the only thing that I could possibly find worn gwith this album is that at times it does get kind of repetative. However, when you have an album like this, especially when it only has seven songs, it's perfect. You don't need to change a thing about it. As Mr. Boris stated, Oppressing the Masses tried adding more variety, but failed in the end. Vio-Lence is good at being fast and insane, so they should stick to it.

If you're a true fan of thrash metal, and don't have this album yet, then your life is absolutely useless. If you claim to like thrash, and never heard of Vio-Lence, then you really shouldn't be claiming to be a true fan of thrash. If you're still reading this review, and haven't already gone out to at least look for this album, then what the fuck are you waiting for? It's a pretty rare album to find, especially nowadays, but it's totally worth your hard earned money. Fuck all of those German bands, this is extreme thrash done right!

Here it is, one of Thrash Metal's sacred cows and also one of its finest moments. Vio-lence's debut is highly regarded in almost every Thrash circle alive, and rightfully so. They didn't do anything terribly unique, but they played high-speed, head-bashing Thrash Fucking Metal better than a lot of other bands did, and this is a really cool album.

Things start off in fine form with the fantastic title track, which will shred and thrash your ass apart like a hungry wildebeest in the plains of Africa. The first thing you'll notice, perhaps even before the killer guitar tone and even better riff quality, is the vocals of Sean Killian. He has a higher pitched, punkish sort of voice, reminiscent of Bobby Blitz from Overkill, and his singing style is a crazed yammer. He sounds like he's bouncing off the walls, foaming at the mouth and ready to tear something apart, and despite what the pussies who don't like him might claim, he is perfect for this kind of music. Even if you don't think he has a good voice, you can't deny that much. The riffs are hard-edged and ballsy as fuck, pretty much exactly what you'd expect from this genre, except there are SO MANY OF THEM just flooding out of the gates and trampling over anyone stupid enough to get in the way. It's like that scene in Lion King where the beasts trample over Mufasa, except a lot cooler, and much more enjoyable to listen to. "Serial Killer" is another slab of barbed Metal thrashing that might be my favorite here, and it's followed right up with "Phobophobia," a monstrous, lethal song with enough riffs to fill the Statue of Liberty. The rest of the stuff here gets a bit samey and runs together a bit, but it doesn't deter the quality of Eternal Nightmare one bit. Get this if you like Heavy Metal as a musical genre in the least.

Originally written for http://www.metalcrypt.com

VIO-LENCE - ETERNAL NIGHTMARE

When I first heard this album I almost laughed from the amount of aggression displayed here. So typical I thought. However, I easily was able to appreciate this album in no time as soon as the kind of ultra shock of the albums aggression left me. Its obvious that this album delivered a kick to the stagnating thrash genre which was coming off a kind of mixed year in terms of releases. This album delivered the blow that should have put the entire scene back on track. Unfortunately labels had gotten wise to thrash, and were capitalizing on its short run in the late 80's. Thus this album only serves as a monument to what a thrash band with plenty of ideas, riffs, and near flawless execution could do even without touching much new ground.

Onto the highlights for now. "Eternal Nightmare" is an amazing headbanger, that sets the tone of sheer terror for the entire album with its slew of opening riffs. Basically the perfect album opener, no sissy horror synth music, just sheer terror inducing riffage. "T.D.S. (Take It As You Will)" is a ripping thrash-tastic ode to drugs. As childish as it is, its amazingly well done, and has doubtless given Machine Head kiddies many a bad night. "Kill On Command" is a catchy ode to bounty hunters, with screaming riffage, sharp fast drumming, and a killer solo to finish off any Machine Head fans left. "Phobophbia" shows the band wasn't a one-dimension thrash group, as it features tempo changes, and creative transition riffing. Easily one of the better songs here.

The production fits the musics intensity perfectly. This is the type of album that should NEVER be re-recorded for ANY reason. It just would butcher the value the music had in the first place. Their is simply nothing wrong with this sharp production job. Vio-Lence also appeared to be incredibly on mark for a debut album, meaning they had an advanced knowledge of what worked and what didn't. The band wrote tons of memorable riffs as well and mixed this approach with memorable song writing and choruses (As Boris said you should easily get it by the third listen, or at least the basic sound). All in all this album sticks to the bare basics, with a shove it down your throat mentality that never slows down.

So in the end I reccomend this album. If you don't like the vocals, just try to ignore them because you'd be missing out on 36 Minutes of screaming over the top, head banging thrash that shoves enough memorable riffs your way to make your ears bleed. Machine Head fanboys be warned, this isn't for pussy "can't take the aggression" groove metal fans.

Overall: Highly Recommended to fans of thrash, and people who want to take a nostalgia trip back to the heyday of thrash.

You know, I’m not a death metal fan. Yep, growled vocals generally suck, I admit it. Most death metal always sounded to me like rather mediocre thrash metal with crappy vocals. I like a dose of extreme music as much as the next metaller, but somewhere along the line, I always felt death metal was the wrong direction for thrash metal to evolve into.

Ladies and gentlemen, THIS is the direction thrash should have gone!

Without a doubt this is the best extreme thrash album ever created. Bonded by Blood? Pah, immature work at best compared to this. Reign in blood? Maybe for a few seconds Slayer approached this intensity. Darkness Descends? Close but no cigar my friends. This album is so far ahead of anything else baring the name of thrash that it puts the shotgun against all other bands heads and slowly pulls the trigger.

In essence I have always felt this album comes from the more Anthrax side of the big four, the slightly anarchic side of things. That is ok. If I want epic thrash I’ll go for Heathen’s second album. And boy are we talking anarchic. We are talking ‘Bloody hell what the hell did I just hear???’ anarchic. From the first moments of ‘Eternal Nightmare’ right through to the complete riff nightmare of ‘Kill on Command’ This album is chock full of a multitude of riffage that makes just about every band in existence back off in dismay.

However the centerpiece of the album is without a doubt Sean’s vocals. Bollocks to those who call them horrible – especially the death metal fans – This is how extreme metal should be sung – Extremely fast, unintelligibly crazy, and yet managing to keep at least some kind of melody going. (which death metal misses out I’m afraid) Best extreme vocals ever without a doubt I would say.

Weaknesses? Not a lot, perhaps ‘Phobophobia’ is a little slower than the rest, but I’d rather claim that the weakness here is that the followup did not in even remote terms live up to the sheer anarchic manicmania of this release. The best extreme thrash metal album ever, all on its own, with no challengers either by the same band or any other. Get it now to witness what extreme metal could have (and perhaps should have) become.

This album is unquestionably the finest music the thrash genre has to offer (…yet, though unfortunately, probably ever).

Every song on this album is better than most bands entire discographies. Every song on here makes Slayer it’s bitch. Vio-Lence doesn’t even require the power of Satan to kick your ass like half the other thrash bands. They only require the power of rock, something quite inachievable by most bands it seems. This album is only 7 songs and 35 minutes, yet is has enough riffs to populate a riff planet or fill the Pacific Riff Ocean. It’s fast enough to make even a chronic masturbator seem slow.

I won’t lie though: I find this album pretty unmemorable. When I try to think of how a specific song starts, I can rarely remember. People ask me, “How does that riff to ‘Phobophobia’ or ‘Eternal Nightmare’ go again?” And you know what? I can never remember! Then again, it’s pretty hard to remember a single riff when each song has no less than (and more than likely exceeding) INFINITY FUCKING RIFFS PER SONG. So, unlike with most bands/albums, unmemorability is actually one of the album’s high points.

The solos, oh, THE SOLOS!!!! Actually, Vio-Lence don’t solo. They don’t shred. They take massive musical metaphoric shits all over Yngwie and Petrucci. They pinch gargantuan imaginary loaves on Kerry King and M.A. Batio. …Okay, maybe the solos aren’t faster than all of them, but they are way fucking better. Then again, most of those guys don’t solo (King does, and Petrucci does too… occasionally…), they just masturbate with their guitars instead of their cocks (though I’m pretty sure Petrucci and Yngwie use their willies in conjunction with the guitars). Every solo on this album is better than the Angel of Death solo and nearly every riff is better than the AoD riff. That’s saying something, because I fucking love that song. That riff and that solo? HOLY SHIT! But when you have 5 riffs (infinity was pushing it) of equal AoD quality in every song, Slayer just can’t compete. Actually, Slayer couldn’t compete even if Vio-Lence only had 1 riff of such quality per song. Slayer writes over-rated bullshit and a few proficient albums from before I was born.

And the lyrics. Nothing thought provoking, nothing super serious, nothing to make you re-examine your life. Tyler Durden didn’t write these lyrics. They don’t make you think or say, “Huh…” or, “How Nietzchean…” They make you say, “FUCK YEAH MOTHERFUCKER!! THAT’S WHAT I’M TALKING ‘BOUT!” The lyrics are very well written and flat out kick ass, particularly Kill On Command. They are very simple to understand, but they refrain from sound like they were written by a mongoloid two-year-old, Forrest Gump, or Sloth from the Goonies.

Every instrument is played tightly. ‘Nuff said.

The only thing on this cd that has ever been less than desirable to me is the vocals. Originally, I was a bit set off by them and found the album difficult to enjoy. The second time I heard the album, I ignored the vocals and heard the riffs, that’s when I fell in love. The third through the fiftieth times (all in the first week mind you) I found the vocals hilarious. I often times found myself laughing hysterically at various moments throughout the album, especially in Phobophobia when Killian starts building speed and raising pitch (“In constant paranoia… just what it might be”)… Gets me every time. Now however, I can enjoy the vocals to an extent. They fit the music. Are they my favorite thrash vocals? Hell no, I’ve always thought Tom Araya’s were pretty badass. He’s not my favorite, he’s just the only one coming to mind at the moment. At times, Killian has that proper thrash shouting and he sounds fucking great. Other times, he has that comical insanity tone to him, and, while still fitting, it can occasionally result in uncontrollable bouts of laughter or annoyance. I no longer consider the vocals a drawback, just a less strong point. Rather than having good and bad parts, they have good and funny parts.

The production kicks ass too. Get the two disc version if you can, the live performances are great.

If you already own this album, you know what I’m talking about. If you don’t, then why and how the fuck did you manage to read all of these reviews before mine and still not gone out and purchased 3 copies of this album (one for you, one for a friend, and one for the first meth addict with ADD you see who will surely enjoy this)?! If this album were only reviewed by the number of good riffs it had, I would have given it far more than 100, but seeing as how the powers that be wouldn’t want the other 117,208 albums (at time of writing) to feel insignificant and worthless in comparison, 100 will have to suffice. Thrash won’t top this until Metallica stops sucking, Pantera reunites, and Dream Theater quit wanking. Seeing as how only two of those are still possible, Vio-Lence wins.

This is deranged, completely deranged. The riffs are lightning fast and insane, the drumming is berserk and chaotic, the bass is loud as hell, the vocals are spastic, and the lyrics are completely maniacal. Obviously this creates a glorious, deranged, face ripping, relative raping thrash-fest of inconceivable levels.

Vio-lence is surprisingly unknown for such a good thrash band, sure, pretty much everyone who is into thrash metal or Machine Head knows the name. But chances are they haven't heard a second of the godly music that they actually put out. I myself, am a pretty big fan of early Machine Head, and quite a bit of their newest one. But despite listening to that band for years, all I knew about Robb Flynn's past band was that their vocalist sucked and that they were thrash. It seems most people tend to miss out on a few little points when mentioning this band, that they happen to be one of the best thrash bands in existence, and that they are fucking fast.

This is pretty much thrash perfection, and aims to please the fans of the Exodus, Slayer etc. approach to thrash metal, in other words play fast as humanly possible, be completely over the top and generally violent and evil. Vio-lence take this idea on how to play and take it further and create one of the most chaotic albums I've had the honor of hearing.

Eternal Nightmare is openly influenced by Slayer, in fact guitarist Phil Demmel openly tells that he re-wrote sections of this album after hearing Reign in Blood, however as others have said, Vio-lence are far better than Slayer. The riffs of Robert Flynn and Phil Demmel are godly, but are generally of a similar vein, and run the risk of being boring as all the songs are of similar paces. But somehow every single song manages to be addictive and interesting, despite constant similarities.

This is in many ways due to the way in which the band manages to create a sound not dominated by a single instrument. Yes, the guitars are downright godly and stand out due to the sheer riffing perfection, but the bass is loud and the drumming of Perry Strickland is easily comparable to Lombardo's, and is possibly better, giving the album the depth which is needed to remain as timeless as it is.

However, the album is not flawless, Dean Dell's bass, which is loud enough for me to hear and notice, doesn't really add much as it simply follows the riffs. That's no easy task as the riffage here is about as hard as thrash guitar work gets, but it doesn't add to the sound too much. It's not really a negative, it's just not a huge positive. Secondly we have Sean Killian.

Some people see Mr Killian as an integral part of the band, and technically, he is, there aren't too many people who can spit out words that quick, and it is the speed of delivery is one thing which saves his annoying voice from ruining the album. The vocal lines on here are insane and strangely catchy. I personally prefer a deeper voice, but to deliver these speedy vocal lines Killian is needed. In fact, to replace him with a better vocalist would likely change the outlook of the songs, and possibly not for the better.

Also, the soloing is kind of average, it's not bad by any means, but it simply fails to catch the ear above the riffage. Soloing isn't that important anyway, it's the riffs that count here.

And the final flaw is the production, which goes a little past raw and into the realms of just plain bad. It is quite thin, which in many ways leaves the solos more hurt than what they should be. But as I mentioned earlier it's the riffs that are the draw on this album. Also the thin-ness of the album holds back a few of the more crushing sections. Such as the "Distorted features as I picked him off the road" section in "Calling in the Coroner" which still seems heavy as fuck, but just pleads for heavier production.

While these flaws are a little annoying, the worst of them, Sean Killian, is saved by the lyrics. Honestly, I'm not biggest fan of lyrics based on killing people or what not, it just seems stupid, and generally the humor which comes from reading rarely comes through in the actual song. Here I found myself simultaneously headbanging like I was retarded while laughing my ass off. There is some brilliant lyric work here, the previously mentioned line from "Calling in the Coroner" as well as the well known "Stand still and make my job easier", this sort of stuff is all over the album. The strangest thing is the Killian tends to change his voice up a little when ever he delivers the lines, so they stand out, and somehow seem cool, not just funny.

Overall, this album really HAS to be in every metal fan’s collection, no matter what, the riffage and the drumwork make this a near perfect effort, which still sounds original and fresh after nearly 20 years. The songs are varied in length, all have heaps of tempo changes, and there isn't a dud on here, in fact, I can't pick a best track... every song here is stunning, and the only drawbacks to the album are effects on the whole album. This is required listening.

The West Coast thrash scene comprised a fairly wide range of sound–a quick overview of bands calls up the straightforward thrashing of Metallica and Testament, melodic speed-influenced tunes by Heathen and Forbidden, Slayer and Dark Angel's uncompromising brutality, the mad riff-collections produced by Death Angel and Exodus, and several more besides. But for strange constructions and sheer mental irregularities (read: insanity), nobody on the Pacific coastline could beat Vio-Lence.

It's hard to put one's finger on exactly what makes Eternal Nightmare and Vio-Lence so fucked up, but it's definitely there. The most obvious cause is Sean Killian, who has one of the strangest singing voices in metal, a hoarse yelp charged with punk rock attitude and a tendency to travel up and down throughout his limited range of notes several times per verse. It takes a little while to get used to, but Mr. Killian's singing works the same way as Dave Mustaine's–sure, he's not very good, but you can't imagine the band without him.

Beyond the vocals, the construction of many of Phil Demmel's riffs is just plain odd–take the really strange things going on under the verses in the title track, or the jerky up-down intro to "Phobophobia," or the absolutely twisted shrieking intro riff in "T.D.S." (On a side note, how great is the title "The Drug Song"? It's like "We need a song about drugs, dudes. Let's just call it the drug song!" Hilarious. Pardon the digression.) Also worth noting in "T.D.S." are the odd song structure and a subtle touch of madness in the drums–whether intentionally or not, the hi-hat seems to be lagging behind the snare drum a bit. Just a 32nd note or so, not enough to throw off the time, but enough to give the unwary listener a good case of "What the fucking fuck?"

Weirdness attended to, it is also this reviewer's duty to point out that Nightmare is a really great album. The band is capable of creating not just weird, but good songs, and they are filled with neck-destroying riffs and and frenetic lead guitar, as well as Perry Strickland's brilliantly unpredictable drumming. "Bodies On Bodies" has a great start-stop bit near the beginning that is guaranteed whiplash, and the "BODIES! ON BODIES! ON BODIES!" group chant is fist-pumping, beer-spilling excellence. Hell, all the gang vocals on Nightmare rule.

"Calling In the Coroner" is probably the most straightforward song on the disc, pounding away at a slightly faster than average tempo with vicious vocals and a truly sinister breakdown at 2:21. That guitar riff is so utterly evil I have to keep my finger near the Pause button whenever it comes up in case it tries to kill me again.

The total highlight of the album is "Phobophobia," which follows up the aforementioned intro riff with a slight slowdown and an AWESOME descending guitar part. The vocals in the chorus-ish bit (1:20, 2:09, etc) are spat out at a near-inhuman pace, and at 2:55 comes an epic, Persistence of Time-style breakdown riff that is nearly lost in the somewhat thin, drum-heavy 80s production. The lead work on this song, as with most of the album, is a little light on the melody and high on the aggressively fast note-punching, though nowhere near a Kerry King or even Jeff Hanneman in terms of unmusicality. The leadup to the last verse beginning around the five-minute mark is a brilliant piece of guitar orchestration, somewhere in between rhythm and lead. A truly excellent song.

As with some other albums I've reviewed, pointing out individual songs gets difficult due to the chaotic nature of the songwriting, which sort of jams the whole album into an insane collection of schizophrenic riffs and rabid-dog-yipping vocals. It's a strange album, no doubt, but also a really great one that can be enjoyed simply on the level of "BANG YER FUCKEN HEAD!" without even trying to catch the subtleties. And of course it's out of print extremely rare, so if you see it anywhere–for instance, at a local used CD shop for five bucks (*smirk*)–do your best to pick it up. The awesome cover art is worth it.

Oh, and because there was no logical place to fit it into the review, I'll just stick it here: fuck Machine Head.

GODDAMMIT!!! I don't care what anyone says, some bands just don't deserve to be thrown into obscurity.

Vio-lence is not an obscure band per se, but how many so called thrashers never heard of them, or an album by them? I'm sure that if your local thrash scene sucks, then they lack some serious culture on fast and ripping audio. What is fast and ripping exactly? Something that is so accelerated that it completely rips your skin appart solely because of the effect.

What is Eternal Nightmare? Something that fullfills the need of mayhem and destruction that every self-respecting thrasher has. Something incredibly fast and intensely ripping. This albums begins with riff annihilation and ends in exactly the same way, endlessly shifting patterns, from whiplash-inducing "Kill 'Em All" type riffage to more advanced guitar work. This band isn't as technical as Nocturnus or later Death, but the riffs are complicated enough AND they do not lose the focus, making this one of the most consistent thrash records I ever heard.

Some might have problems with the vocals, but I don't see what's the big deal with them. These are standard thrash vocals with some crossover influences, so you know these are going to be fast, spitting out 5847474 words a minute. The guitar players prove that they can be quite good at soloing, but is the fucking RIFFAGE that counts and very much so.

Recommended to anyone remotely interested in thrash metal beyond the so-called "big four".

When I hear Eternal Nightmare I wonder why Vio-Lence isn't heavy metal hall of fame material (if such a place existed...). This is high caliber thrash that time forgot. A shame too, since there are enough killer riffs here to supply lesser bands for 3 albums. Eternal Nightmare pretty much embodies what ruled about thrash... a cartoonishly sinister album cover, lyrics describing real life horrors as opposed to fantasy, and songs that make saps like me wish they had long hair again.

First things first... imagine a talking ferret... feed this ferret some speed... give him a microphone. Thats what Vio-Lence frontman Sean Killian sounds like. His frantic delivery recalls HR from hardcore legends the Bad Brains, in a good way. Songs like "Phobophobia" and my personal favorite "Serial Killer" benefit from his spazz-outs, making for distinct and memorable thrash.

Phil Demmel and Robb Flynn (pre dreadlocks) play hard and fast... "Eternal Nightmare" is a rhythm guitarists wet dream. There is a dissappointing dearth of grooves, however... asides from "Calling in the Coroner". Either way, its potent stuff. I can't wait until Vio-Lence reunites... and Death Angel and Heathen. While many Bay Area thrashers continued throughout the 90s to varying effects, I feel those 3 have alot of metal to offer the world yet.

*Interesting note... the thank yous list as many punk and hardcore bands as they do metal. Here's to crossover!

Damn this album fucken rules!! Imagine all the poor Machine Head kiddies out there that a) have never heard it, or worse (better?) 2) did hear it, and they promptly expired. This album is pure fucking thrash. Over-the-top vocals, and of course lots and lots of riffs, and all this delivered at about 284 beats per minute. Oh and catchy too. Damn, this album is executed flawlessly.

The third time you listen to this, you will be able to sing along to the vocal lines, because the songs really are that memorable. Of course it will take you about 20 more listens, carefully reading the lyrics booklet, before any of the ACTUAL words will make sense to you. That's okay though, it's called a learning experience, so hold your voice and don't point your finger!!

Highlights include: "TDS (Take it as You WIll)" - TDS actually stands for "The Drug Song", and wouldn't you know it, it's about drugs. Then there is "Kill on Command" with that beautiful ode to professional hitmen... "Stand still, it'll make my job easier!"

The only thing that makes this album a bit short of flawless is the fact that some of the songs do tend to be a bit similar - but hey, they got it right, why fuck with it? (There is more variety on "Oppressing the Masses", and consequently that album is just a tinge weaker. Damn, oh well.) So get this album now, it's 36 minutes of happy headbanging fun.

Oh and if you don't like the vocals, listen to the riffs instead. It's that simple.