Evil Never Dies

How many simple but good riffs exist in our galaxy? Nobody knows the exact answer. But Toxic Holocaust alone have fired off so many on their demos, splits and albums that I fear they are running out rather than anyone getting the Corona virus at least halfway under control. Not in Germany, at least, with its collection of selected idiots in government. When they realise that a medicine is not working, they quickly administer a higher dose. That’s very clever, no doubt about it.

Toxic Holocaust is similar, only the other way round. Their medicine works. That’s the simple reason why the dose is basically always the same. Come hell or high water, stringent riffs prepare the ground for vicious neck-snaps. Without much ado, they deliver one scoop of hateful speed after the other. Well, the intro is completely pointless. The epic (and well done) "Summon the Beast" is over four minutes long and stays in mid-tempo. But presumably these pieces were only conceived in this way so that the album would pass the 30-minute mark.

Representative numbers are angry outbursts like "Enemy of Jesus", "Damned to Fire" or "666". The latter even almost develops earworm qualities due to its catchy three-note refrain. Between these titles lies "Exxxecutioner". (The letter X was apparently on special offer at the time of recording.) Unfortunately, this track lags behind the others, partly because of the introduction by a primitive, anaemic drum solo. By the way, the pappy drums could develop considerably more pressure. Guitar-wise, everything is on track. Colleague Grind wrings only mean-sounding tones out of his six strings. That's how it should be with this form of simple, punk-inspired thrash with constantly vile vibrations.

The lone wolf finishes the album with the tranquillity and stubbornness of a passionate woodchopper. Whether you're listening to "Warfare", "Dead to the World" or some other ode to filth, he is doing his work with the "Ignorance Is Bliss" attitude that The Ramones once praised on "Brain Drain". It may also be that some elements of the early Ramones have made an impression on Toxic Holocaust, especially their consistent restriction to the essentials. However, "Evil Never Dies" is certainly not a genre classic, but there are clearly worse records. Given this situation, let’s hope that the simple riffs never die out.

Toxic Holocaust is a modern day thrash metal band from Oregon. They are known for mixing their punky breed of classic thrash with an early-sounding style of black metal similar to what Bathory was doing on the pre-"Hammerheart" albums. By mixing these two styles and injecting some speed metal in the vein of Venom, we get Toxic Holocaust's debut full-length album "Evil Never Dies". Although this album really isn't all that special or awe-inspiring, it's extremely fun, fast, and certainly a blast from the past.

The album begins with the title track which serves as an instrumental introduction. It really reminds me quite a bit of "Storm of Damnation" from Bathory's classic self-titled debut in terms of sound and purpose. It really isn't much to talk about because after all, it is just a short introductory track. "War is Hell" is the first actual song on the album, and right away, the guitar riffs sound like something straight from the early Bathory or Sodom catalogue. For the most part, the pace is fairly fast. There are more mid-paced numbers to be heard such as "Summon the Beast", but even that song ends up picking up the pace at certain points. This is definitely an album meant to melt your face off with the power of thrash. The songs are fun but there really isn't anything worth speaking of in terms of technicality. Solos for the most part are absent on this album aside from a few tracks such as the fan favorite "666", and "Damned to Fire". These solos are fairly simple yet effective. This may seem atypical for thrash metal, and it did feel a little strange to me at first. This makes the album seem bland at times and generic. This is still a solid album that contains some badass guitar riffs, but it certainly would have benefitted from more solos and variation.

In terms of drumming, the album is fairly one-sided. Aside from the mid-paced beats on tracks like the aforementioned "Summon the Beast", we mostly get d-beat punk drumming and ferocious thrash beats. Songs like "Dead to the World" and "Enemy of Jesus" exhibit a huge influence of old-school hardcore punk. This really amps up the energy and no doubt will satisfy a majority of thrash fans. The early Bathory influence no doubt affects the drum performance on this disc, but also especially is influential with the vocal delivery. Joel Grind's vocals are absolutely wretched on this album. Sure, they're not completely original, but they do the deed.

After seeing this band live in November 2013, I can definitely say the energy performed throughout their music is emulated perfectly on stage. One interesting fact is Joel Grind actually has played every instrument on Toxic Holocaust's albums until 2011's "Conjure and Command". He is an extremely talented multi-instrumentalist, and a pretty cool dude. They played some songs off this album during their set and they managed to bring forth more energy in their live performance than what we have on the already energetic album. While this isn't really a completely original or awe-inspiring album, it's a fun piece of evil blackened thrash metal. Those people who love the old-school stuff should dig this.

Of the newer thrash projects to come bursting out of the U.S. scene, Toxic Holocaust is among the most vile and decrepit. Mastermind and sole recording artist on this album Joel Grind has definitely done his homework with regards to the Teutonic trio and most of the darker, meaner, blackened projects of the mid 80s. There’s a very strong helping of Bathory and Venom influences trading blows with the formulaic speed metal tendencies of the riff set, almost as if turning to the recent outputs of Darkthrone and Gorgoroth and using them as a template to create a sound to rival the rawest of Hellhammer’s early demos.

The greatest asset that this album carries, apart from the heavy amount of crust punk trappings, is its sheer simplicity. Blistering nods to the lawn killing speed of Motorhead in “War Is Hell” and “666” consist of little more than the typical 3 chord groupings common to the average Discharge song, yet cut heads with the same sheer intensity as a full blown riff bonanza ala “Persecution Mania”. As a matter of fact, were it not for the fact that so many of these songs barely make it to 2 minutes, the riveting sophomore effort of Sodom would be the closest comparison to what’s going on here.

While maybe not the most radically complex thing to come down the pike of late, there are a few points of intricacy that set this apart from the likes of Skeletonwitch. The big point of contrast is “Summon The Beast”, which has a bit more going on to it than the average speed metal song and puts in a few solid riffs right out of the “Hell Awaits” formula. The one thing that sort of holds this thing back from being outright Slayer worship is the fact that it largely avoids the longer durations typical of their early material, as the longest song on here barely breaks the 4 minute mark. Nevertheless, a few inklings of “Haunting The Chapel” come through on here, particularly in the cases of “Dead To The World” and “Atomik Destruktor” which also show Joel Grind mixing in the occasional banshee wail alongside his blackened barks.

Those who like their thrash metal ugly as hell and loaded with rawness should definitely find a winner in this album. It all but perfectly captures the duality between the rapid paced riffing of Sodom as well as the barely comprehensible ravings of Angelripper. The production is a bit on the low-fidelity side of things, even when compared to a number of fuzz-infused albums out of the Norwegian 2nd wave, but it has the sufficient punch and edge necessary to keep from being lost in demo land. Definitely an album to have for anyone looking for the latest answer to Venom.

I first saw Toxic Holocaust play at a local show and was amazed at the crowd reaction. They were eating it up and going nuts! So I decided to get the album and see if I could get the same reaction from myself. Toxic Holocaust is an amazing one man thrash band that kicks your ass and comes back for more.


The album starts off with a pretty cool intro, the sounding of a gong and guttural screaming. Then you hear the words Evil Never Dies, moaned out in agony and you’re blasted into War is Hell, a song with lightning fast drum beats and an amazing thrash riff. You should immediately start head banging. The singing is done in the typical death metal, guttural tone. Though Joel has a higher octave range I think then most death metal singers. At the end of verses sometimes he trails off the word in a scream, not typical of this kind of thrash/doom, they usually do a lower growl.


The guitar work on this album takes you back to the old thrash days of the 80s. Most of the songs give you in your face fast paced thrash beats, like 666 and Enemy of Jesus. Some of the songs have more relaxed tempos, but still have that awesome I want to get in the mosh pit thrash sound, like Damned to Fire and Summon the Beast. One negative I do see in this album is that there aren’t a lot of solos, and when there are, they are short like creepingdoom has mentioned in his review. A lot of them are choppy I think as well – they’re more like Kerry King solos then actual thought out constructed solos.


This album is amazing! It has a lot of reused thrash riffs, but the lyrics are catchy as hell, and support the usual metal themes, i.e. Satan, death, and war. When I wanted to recreate the crowd atmosphere when I saw Toxic Holocaust, I got that and much more. If you love thrash metal you should own this album! Some songs to look up are War is Hell, 666, Atmoick Destruktor and Metal Attack.

In theory, I love this album. It contains most of the ingredients that is needed for a helluva thrash metal classic.

However, in practice, it all becomes typical Toxic Holocaust-riff after another. Sure, it sounds good but without variation the result with be a bored SOB.

Of course, there are a few songs that contains that little extra to raise an eyebrow every now and then. Songs like "War is Hell", "666" and "Warfare" are really good and pretty unlike the rest of the songs on this album.

Another problem is the production. To me, it sounds really "modern digital home studio recording" (you have heard that term before, haven't you?). The fact that Joel Grind is a one man band tickles the thought of he´s been sitting in his basement recording this album with guitar pods and VST-drums in a pirate copy of Cubase.

I might be bad talking Joel a lot right now, but I love this new wave of old school thrash metal. I am merely saying how this album should have been done. Screaming dirty guitars with rattling drums in a real old school kind of way.

Pure fucking evil war thrash metal!!! Joel Grind's influence combines everything from Possessed to Discharge, cumulative ideas and musical apparition. It's a damn evil mix in the end, for any fan of old school death and thrash metal, as well as appeal to crust and grind fans. It doesn't slow the fuck down and I can guarantee this would be a wild pit if it made it to stage dominion. Nonetheless, Joel Grind offers us some fast exxxecutioner tunes on this.

The album strikes an opening note with "666", followed by one of the best thrash tunes I've heard in years, "Atomik Destruktor". Catchy oldschool crust/punk riffing attacked by rasps and screams and brisk drums. The songs evolve in the minute or two minute length they offer, but it's definitely headbang-worthy, and if I was viewing this at a show, I'd be in total decision-making mode. One way is to sit there with the old arms crossed and watch the nuclear audio destruction; the other is to jump in the giant pit. That's fairly correct verbalism to judging this album.

A break at song seven with the title track "Evil Never Dies" which is minorly an interlude leading to the masterpiece track eight, "Exxxecutioner" which is majorly the grand album anthem. The songs combine with one another between the evil ritual sound and the fast punk/thrash tempo. The terminology to describing an album such as this is mismatched, and I think "evil as war" should clear that up the easiest.

Standout tracks are "Exxxecutioner", "Summon the Beast", "Dead to the World", and "Atomik Destruktor". The album comes to a total of 32 minutes in 12 songs. Blackened thrash fans would never destroy this. One of my favourite U.S. products to date in the eyes of thrash! Nuke the cross!!!

© CanadianMetal.com 2006