Do or Die

Before Annihilator there was...Savage Steel. I know the band name doesn't evoke any notions of complex, cleverly-executed music, but the truth is that these guys were the first to offer a more technical brand of thrash from the land which would later be the ultimate model when it comes to technical/progressive music (more on the death metal side, but still...). Voivod started it all with the eponymous "Killing Technology", but few were those tempted to go into those vaguely charted, abstract territories. The late-80s were crying out for more demanding, engaging listens and Canada had to join its neighbour, which introduced some noteworthy acts in the field of progressive/technical thrash: Watchtower, Realm and Toxik to name the more prominent ones.

1988 was the year when technical metal reached a full bloom at a fairly early stage. On the other side of the Atlantic Deathrow released "Deception Ignored", Mekong Delta came up with "The Music of Erich Zann", Sieges Even entered the scene with "Life Cycle", those pillars ably supported by the works of Target, Vendetta, Hexenhaus, etc. America certainly had not much to offer to match this impressive horde at the time, but things were cooking there as well.

It's a crying shame that this album was overshadowed by "Alice in Hell" so easily, and many fans never even got to listen to it. It effortlessly provided a template for the more accessible form of technical thrash without any elaboration towards progressive heights. Another reason for its obscure status may have been the band's previous works which were hardly extraordinary by any standards. The band were determined to catch up quickly for their relatively late appearance on the scene - they released two albums in 1987, the weaker debut "Begins with a Nightmare" and the better "Killing Time", this one released much later, actually, and not known until a few years ago. Both efforts introduced a band with a crossover-prone taste for mixing power, speed, and thrash without too much emphasis on the latter. So perhaps it should come as no surprise that few thrash metal fans bothered with them in the late-'80s when there was so much aggressive music to choose from.

That same aggressive music had a very worthy match here, though: once the opening "Mind over Matter" starts drilling your brain with those ultra-sharp riffs with a hefty portion of chaotic proto-blasts, sounding as though at any moment the band would turn the tables towards death metal, you will realize your mistake for serving ungrounded prejudices and having missed on this rollercoaster of consummate technical precision. More control is exercised on "Enough is Enough", which is again on the headbanging side, but this piece pours technical riffage galore over you the relentless rifforama topped by the high-pitched shouts of the "banshee" serving as a singer (the name: Paul Glenecki). Things get more complex from here with the over 6-minute of clever intense thrashing on "Time After Time", which is again close to reaching death metal heights with its brutal beginning. Later on it provides some of the most astonishing tempo changes at the time, making the mid-section a mandatory textbook for every technical thrash practitioner.

"Better Late Than Never" is another exemplary shredder after which comes "Men of War", which is a slightly reworked version of the best song from the previous album which more epic character betrays its origins, but is a welcome break from the insane technical thrashing served so far, and its more refined guitar licks may remind one of what Megadeth achieved two years later on "Rust in Peace". "Evil Eye" is the next stylized "carnage" on the way, thrashing quite wildly also offering a somewhat cheesy chorus supported by fine bass implements. "Get Me Out of Here" is intricate speed/thrash at its most perfect, a riff-fest second to none with the stop-and-go technique applied here, predating the Coroner histrionics on "No More Colour" by one whole year.

And here we are... at the end of this no-brainer of a technical thrash, 31:31 of some of the most eventful compositions at the time served in a short concise way which later only Atheist managed to match in terms of pouring the most puzzling musical arrangements for just over half an hour. Jeff Waters couldn't have possibly shone so bright with his "Alice in Hell" if this album had earlier become regular "food" on the metal fan's table. There's absolutely no self-indulgence anywhere as the whole product leaves the impression that the guys were kind of joking, so effortlessly it flows the whole time with no overdone progressive build-ups, no miscalculated repetition of the same riffs, no more direct, more straight-forward relievers. This is pretty much the epitome of technical thrash at its early, non-contaminated-with-all- kinds-of-influences, stage.

Whether this album was an influence on the future wave of technical bands from Canada who overflowed the scene later is debatable. On the thrash metal side, Canada never managed to match this effort later, though. Voivod gradually lost their interest in thrash. The one-album-wonder Dyoxen showed a lot of promise with their quite intriguing effort "First Among Equals", released the same year, but they quickly disappeared without a trace. Annihilator took the mainstream path after a few decent cuts. DBC pleasantly surprised with the spacey progressive thrashisms on "Universe", but that was all from them. Disciples of Power hinted at bigger things to come with the stylish thrash/crossover hymns on their debut "Powertrap" and continued to grow stronger, only under a more extreme, death metal-ish form. Then Obliveon came splashing with a string of first-class technical thrash efforts in the early/mid-'90s and ruled for a while before surrendering to the sterile industrial norms. That's pretty much it.

The Savage Steel lads sank somewhere deep underground as though they were not willing to stain this masterpiece with dubious performances in team with not as talented colleagues elsewhere. This inimitable, light-hearted approach to technical metal could have been given at least one more shot, but no. The band did it...

...and "died".

(best read after perusing http://www.metal-archives.com/review.php?id=8386 = better continuity)

Reaching into my pocket for this album wasn’t easy, but hell, I’d already done it with other risky follow-ups to crappy debuts with at least unobjectionable results, and for $6-7…I’ve blown more at one time on Ferris Wheel rides.

Like the sophomore slabs from Juggernaut and Texan (Corpus Christi) Devastation, Canadian Savage Steel regroup, (re)vitalize, and ride into this release with hair swinging, ultimately catching it in the twirling, heated turbine that fuels technical progression and fire up an unexpected worthiness that really should’ve been the gasoline for their simplistic and straw-bodied first. Pissing off the neighbors with more energy and creativity than perhaps nine-tenths of the wax Begins With a Nightmare corrodes, the foursome stomp around the proving grounds confidently with Do or Die, those same proving grounds they roamed only a year ago and probably couldn’t escape even if Moses himself was leading them, and if the debut managed to gather admirers, then this one should’ve cemented them into the fan club.

Don’t be surprised that salty Bay Area air blows in from the west, which by ’88 was a daily non-event for most North American tech-thrash releases. Early, but less vorpal Death Angel and Vio-lence are fairly generous with their airborne spore, but complicated crosswinds prevail from other places. Reduced-calorie Watchtower and the circuitous rhythmic journeys on both Juggernaut’s and Dragon’s (which, incidentally, probably wasn’t even a thought yet, but is a tangible example nonetheless) second lps swoop in from a phalanx of trajectories, and when the band overfills the gas tank, something in a less crazed Hellwitch barrage can have you chasing your hat.

Recalling mistake #1, BWAN’s promotional cover sticker teased us with the mastery of guitarist Marshall Birch that would end up motionless in its crib like a stillborn, but now we see he’s got a couple of chops to sell us, and some of them are cut from a Jeff Waters/Annihilator slab of meat.

Comparably, this whole shebang is wetter with excitement, taking care of mistake #2. It’s like they pulled into their driveway, saw the debut as the nondescript shack it is, and rented a bulldozer to clear the land for a more extravagant home. Building materials are taken from a higher shelf. Mistakes stand rebuilt and repainted. Flow is lucid and animated, squealing around technical twists and turns with hugging, if not proficient grace. It took vigor a year to find the band, and for its trouble authored a formula of much needed urgency like it was a newly signed lease on life without sounding mandatory to get the job done, and this spontaneous, unforced nature makes the experience all the more valuable. The overall picture is highlighted by the lively, broad stroke production by Steve Negus, a then ex of cool progressive rockers Saga.

Musically, things are acceptably memorable and entertaining. Speed brokers like “Mind Over Matter/It’s Do or Die” (portrayed as separate songs on the jacket with no – or / to be found, and are actually the same song strangely joined by shared lyrics) and “Enough is Enough” are a combo punch showing the best of the band’s newly mapped worlds, especially Brian Vella on the only instrument here with a seat. “Time After Time” showcases some cool bass work from new guy Stephan Turrer, and antsy “Better Late Than Never” and down to earth “Men of War” show that metal with more candid and less topsy-turvy momentum hasn’t entirely been uprooted from their former sonic landscape like an old tree.

Finally, we get to the wobbly wheel on this cart. Paul Gleneicki sees no walking papers and as if rewarding the release he pulls his uninteresting intermediate frequency even thinner into the atmosphere. Falsetto can’t hide in the recesses of one or two tracks anymore, but at the same time it’s not quite falsetto, at least not the kind we’re used to. It’s yelpy in quick mode and scratchy and imperfect when dragged into longer notes, like a straight line drawn with an off hand, and while not the ideal singer, he’s at least adequate this time ‘round - mistake #3 rewritten, but not very well.

Savage Steel’s advance can be attributed to a few things, like Stephan Turrer’s bass replacement of Mark Taluitie, but he’s doubtfully the band’s newly uncorked wellspring. The bright spot in their day could’ve been the adios they waved to stingy New Renaissance, but in the meantime they unwittingly rolled farther into the oven by hooking up with the absentminded but not-yet-renown-for-it Maze Records.

In any case, despite improvements almost all around, Do or Die didn’t lead the band out of the underground’s dark and forgotten caves, and even though it easily beats the shit out of Begins With a Nightmare, it’s destined to be remembered with the same disinterest as that pile.