The Thrash Metal Guide

Copyright (c) 2007 THE THRASH METAL GUIDE

0-9 A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W X Y Z

P.T.O.M.A. (GREECE)

This is decent modern thrash metal (based on the debut demo) played energetically with a crisp, but a bit thin, guitar sound which still is not a detraction from intense headbangers like "The Decomposed Pork Chop". "Die With Titties In Your Face", as you have already guessed by the title, is an uplifting jokey crossover piece to which the gruff drunken punk vocals are a perfect match.
The "S-POO-KY" demo is more in the thrash/crossover camp, the songs being more simplistic and more optimistic, and decidedly more classic-sounding. "Decomposed Pork Chop" is a raging thrasher, and the last track is a cool nod to the veteras Nuclear Assault, with a cover of their "Sin" from the Americans' debut "Game Over", done in an energetic, faithful to the original, manner, excluding the gruff semi-shouty hardcore vocals.

P.T.O.M.A. Demo, 2011
S-POO-KY Demo, 2011

PACE OF HEARSE (GERMANY)

"Thrash The Heads" offers short, direct raw thrashers, not too far from Hirax, but more aggressive, and with a worse sound quality. The singer adds to the raw and aggressive sound of the recording with his sinister hoarse voice. "Troops of the Hearse" is longer, but doesn't waste time, and thrashes without mercy, having also a cool lead guitar section.

The DemoN Demo, 2005
Thrash The Heads Demo, 2006
ReHEARSEal Demo, 2007

PACK OF WOLVES (USA)

Groovy post-thrash of the jollier type, not hitting hard in any department, except in the vocal one, where the guy rends his throat to the point of hysteria. The music is mid-tempo to slow, with references to doom, and crossover on the faster parts.

Betrayer Full-length, 2009

PACTUM (MEXICO)

Based on "Haciendo Justicia Con Tu Propia Mano", this band offers rough thrashy hardcore with modern references, not far from Madball with a pinch of more recent Pro-Pan. The guitar sound is a bit chuggy, and the vocalist is the staple angry shouter.

M.O.D.L. EP 1989
Ficción, Lujuria y Blasfemia Full-length 1992
F.A.L. Full-length 1996
Haciendo Justicia Con Tu Propia Mano Full-length 1997

PAGAN RITES (SWEDEN)

The guys from the heavy/black metal outfit Devil Lee Rot, along with Devil Lee Rot himself, have decided to harden the course a bit, under a new name. Based on "Pagan Metal - Roars of The Anti Christ", this is black/thrash metal sounding like a more vicious version of the Devil Lee Rot music, not very fast or aggressive, also recalling another Swedish act: Bewitched. An interesting moment are the doomy tracks ("Unholy Ancient War"), which bring the sound close to the veterans Bathory, Celtic Frost and Venom. The rest is cool simplistic headbanging stuff including mellower songs which sound as though directly taken from the Devil Lee Rot albums ("Pagan Metal").
"Embrace The Torments of Hell" is vintage early Venom, but this time the tribute to the Brits is done in a softer rock-ish manner, still containing pleasant surprises along the way: the speedy roller-coaster "The Horned Immortal"; the raging speed/thrashers "Baphometal" and "Tragedy Of Christ". "The Seal Of Bapphomet" at the end is a high-octane doomster with a speedy ending, and the bonus track after it, "Unholy Divine", is another sinister funeral doom metal piece ala early Cathedral with another faster exit, but done chaotically and with worse musicianship, obviously a "remnant" from an older demo.
The "Preachers from Hell" EP is a brutal affair, the band thrashing, also blacking, in a vicious aggressive manner with a few softer reliefs (the speed metal joy "Catholic Sodomy"), plus a cool atmospheric doom/blacker ("Unhallowed Ground") with a melancholic pinch ala Katatonia as a finishing touch.

Sodomy in Heaven EP, 1994
Bloodlust and Devastation EP, 2000
Mark of the Devil Full-length, 2003
Dancing Souls Single, 2005
Pagan Metal Single, 2006
Pagan Metal - Roars of The Anti Christ Full-length, 2006
Embrace The Torments of Hell Full-length, 2010
Preachers from Hell EP, 2011

PAGAN WAR MACHINE (USA)

A side project of the Dreams of Damnation members; here the music is cleared of the aggressive proto-death parts of the other band's style, which makes it more melodic and less enjoyable. The concentration is on heavy 90's aggro thrash akin to Pantera and Machine Head, and on vocals Steve Gaines does a good job to impersonate Phil Anselmo.

Demo Demo, 2002
Bayonets And Battle Scars Demo, 2003

PAGANDOM (SWEDEN)

A typical modern 90's thrash metal band; one of the many Pantera and Machine Head-clones.

Crushtime Full-length, 1994

PAGANFIRE (PHILIPPINES)

Based on the EP, this young band plays black/thrash of the raw amateurish variety with vicious rending black vocals. The guys bash the whole time, and don't conceal their infatuation with the early efforts from the Brazilian scene (Holocausto, Sextrash, Vulcano, etc.) and the Sacrifice debut, but they have to work harder in order to reach those acts.

Paganfire Full-length, 2005
Hate Vanishing Point EP, 2008

PAGANIZER (SWEDEN)

This band started mixing thrash and death metal of the old school on their debut; crushing and mostly fast-paced music, with a certain use of blast-beats, which could have been avoided, because they break the integrity of the compact, and quite cool thrash/death metal sound. Later on thrash metal stepped down, and their subsequent releases have embraced the death metal idea tighter, again doing a good job, along the lines of the early Swedish heroes from the movement: Grave, Entombed, etc.

"Scandinavian Warmachine": the music is more death metal-oriented, quite fast again, with a more polished, and more technical guitar sound, recalling Morbid Angel. The slow atmospheric compositions are a nice touch ("Colder"), with an epic Amon Amarth-like flavour. "Thule in Flames", on the other hand, is pure black metal madness, hyper-fast and relentless. The technicality reaches its heights on the excellent stomper "Distracting the Gods To Enable the Slaughter Of Millions".

Deadbanger Full-length, 1999
Warlust EP, 1999
Promoting Total Death Full-length, 2001
Dead Unburied Full-length, 2002
Murder Death Kill Full-length, 2003
No Divine Rapture Full-length, 2004
Scandinavian Warmachine Full-Length, 2009

PAGANOS (ARGENTINA)

At the time when the veterans on the Argentinian metal scene were modernizing their sound, here came a band to put them all to shame. The album-title is misleading as there is nothing experimental here: this is all-out classic speed/thrash metal with great guitar melodies and catchy headbanging tracks: just listen to "Mi Legado" and jump around till you drop. Well, you can have a break on the next track "Creando Tu Destino" which is a cool balladic piece, but after it the assault goes on unabated with "Ni Muerto": the most aggressive number on the album. This work must have been one the first "sparkles" to rekindle the interest in retro thrash metal in South America.
"Nos Vemos En El Infierno" would be another no-brainer for the classic thrash metal lovers starting with the energetic semi-technical mosher "Nos Vemos En El Infierno", before "Soy Pagano" cools the situation down a bit, leaving room for more intense speed/thrash for a couple of tracks until the coming of "De Angeles A Demonios" which stays more on the melodic speed metal side. "Mala Yunta" is more vigorous and thrashy, still with melodic hooks aplenty, and the closer "Victimas Del Poder" is kind of underwhelming being optimistic crossover happiness followed by 4 bonus tracks which show the guys' less polished and rawer side thrashing hard and fast, even to the point of blast-beating ("El Mismo De Ayer", "El Pasajero") on a few moments.
"Infierno Real" arrives after a lengthy 8-year break, but shows the guys in fine form once again pulling out pretty decent old school stuff, which this time is more melodic with more references towars the speed, as well as the power metal, field. As such some may be a bit disappointed since all-out thrash assaults are seldom encountered, replaced by a mellower more immediate delivery, even featuring a cool take on a more complex progressive song-writing: "Muerte Justa".

Experimental Full-length, 1999
Infierno Real Full-length, 2007
Nos Vemos En El Infierno Full-length, 2010

PAIN (USA)

Aggressive Slayer-esque thrash, not bad, but the muddy sound quality is a major obstacle at times. Nevertheless the guys try hard, and the leads are more sensible than the ones of Kerry King. The music is fast and intense all the time, topped up by gruff semi-death metal vocals.

Into The Bloodbath Demo, 1988

PAIN PENITENTIARY (UK)

Based on the split, this act plays an extreme blend of death, thrash metal and grind. This is brutal relentless stuff which, despite the dominant fast pace, offers heavy semi-sludgy breaks which work well giving the music a cool diverse twist. Still, the thrash metal fans will not be very entertained: this is mostly death metal-based music with very brutal low-tuned growls.

Organ Pit Demo, 2007
Suffer The Torture / Dismembered And Burnt Split, 2010

PAINCRAZE (SWEDEN)

These Swedes play modern melodic thrash metal alternating between more energetic numbers and pure semi-groovy delights producing unpretentious laid-back music in the process with shades of alternative, grunge and crossover. The guys have done a much better job with their other band: the excellent progressive power/thrashers Dimension 34. Some of them are also involved in the death metal formation Skullbasher.

Hellbound Full-length, 2008

PAINGATE (USA)

Based on the debut, these guys pull out boring alternative 90's post-thrash, soft and edgeless, coming as an awkward mix of Helmet and mid-period Machine Head.

Sacrifice Full-length, 1995
Do the Wrong Thing Full-length, 1996

PAINGOD (USA)

Finally the band Raped Ape have decided to change their obscene name. Unfortunately, as Raped Ape the band were able to pull out some nice thrash metal riffs of the classic school, whereas here we have just another modern thrash act, with touches of hardcore.

Paingod Full-length, 1997

PAINMUSEUM (USA)

Metal Mike Chlasciak's (Halford, Testament) new band, ably supported by Bobby Jarzombek and Steve Digiorgio (you know their backgrounds). With a stellar cast like that you would expect nothing but a masterpiece, and this is probably close on the most inspired moments. Everyone is in top form here, especially Mike whose guitar pyrotechnics are outstanding. The style is not too far from Halford's solo efforts, or Fight's "War Of Words", but is more thrashy and there is a certain modern edge ala Pantera in the guitar approach. And I haven't said anything about the singer yet, who is an acquired taste with his gruff singing, which sometimes doesn't quite fit the music. This is a solid, if a somewhat flawed, release.

Metal For Life Full-length, 2005
You Have The Right To Remain Violent EP, 2006

PAINSTRUCK (PORTUGAL)

Swedish thrash/death metal made in Portugal; the soundalikes are as follow...

Aggressive Ways to Pacify Full-length, 2001
A Whole New Perception Full-length, 2002
The Scalpel EP EP, 2006

PAJSZER (HUNGARY)

A 4-track EP offering well played Germanic thrash with sharp riffs, more melodic leads, and gruff low-tuned vocals. The music is up and mid-tempo, with both tempos taking turns the whole time. Two of the songs are longer, and show the more ambitious side of the band; one of those compositions ("D÷gevo") is a nice nod to late 80's Metallica. The last number "HadvezTr" is softer, more heavy/speed metal-based. The only complaint would possibly come from the drum department: the hollow sound of the drums could be a detraction to some.

Pajszer EP, 2008

PALE CREATION (USA)

This is a very obscure band; the style is crossover/thrash: more thrash on the first demo, more crossover on the second one. The EP is two songs of well-constructed classic thrash which is sadly missing in the faster parametres being slow-ish, almost doomy at times, even reaching a Crowbar-like intenisty on "Wake Of Temptation". "Rose Colored Haze" starts with a slightly overlong, but effective, haunting orchestral/operatic intro.

Demo, 1992
Demo, 1994
Pale Creation EP, 2010

PALE HORSE (USA)

This band were previously known as Hostility. The name change carries style changes, too, but not too many: the music is still a blend of death and thrash metal like on the Hostility EP, but this time the concentration is more on thrash, and even speed metal; the tempo is faster with the traditional doom sections preserved here as well, and a slightly more aggressive vocal delivery. It was good for the 90's that there were acts like this one to carry the old school spirit.

Mournful EP, 1993
Bitter Fruits of Temptation EP, 1994
Until the Last Seal is Opened Best of/Compilation, 2005

PANACEA (DENMARK)

This is your typical modern thrash/death metal ala the Gothenburg school, the guys mixing fas and slow compositions, sticking more the latter the resulting delivery reminiscent of Amon Amarth quite a bit, including in the vocal department, where the guy is an expressive lower-tuned death metal semi-shouter. The closing "Outnumbered" is a very good track with a progressive flavour, and may remind you of Sentenced's "North from Here".

The Dark Descent EP, 2011

PANACEA (GERMANY)

Panacea is a side project for two Accuser members and their debut is pretty close in sound to early Accuser, with a touch of Bay Area thrash: an excellent album although a bit short (only 6 tracks). The guys thrash with conviction and aggression, as evident from the smashing opener "Megalomania". Later calmer, but quite hard-hitting as well, songs come up ("Masquerade", "Delusion"). The tracks easily go over the 5-min range, although there is nothing too technical going on, maybe just occasionally. The style changed along with Accuser's, adopting a groovy modern sound on the second album.

Is It A Human ? Full-length, 1993
Promo-CD EP, 1994
Pray Full-length, 1995

PANDEMIC (USA)

This act offers cool dark-sounding thrash which "marries" the progressive depth of Nevermore with the more aggressive technicality of Terrahsphere and late-80's Kreator. "Infecting the World" opens the album in a thunderous manner with heavy steam-roller riffs; those same steam-roller riffs are very well blended with fast lashing ones on "Ode to Odin" which is aggressive technical thrash with a heavy doomy twist. "Left for Dead" is a fine tribute to Nevermore, a smashing mid-pacer with super-sharp riffage. "Conspiracy of Silence" is a brilliant heavy semi-ballad, which kind of influences the remaining material which features another similar "exploit" ("Sins"), the other tracks being heavy 10-ton hammers in mid-tempo the melody mostly coming from the lead sector. The final "Anointing the Flesh" still decides to thrash more intensely, and the few faster passages there liven up the situation quite well after the almost unbearable heaviness of the preceding couple of songs. The guys would have founded a place under the metal sun quite easily, even in a saturated scene like the modern one, but they are now operating under a new name: Sarcoma, having released two demos in 2007.

Infecting the World Full-length, 2006

PANDEMMY (BRAZIL)

A retro mix of thrash and death metal with early Death an obvious soundalike, but the sound here at times is pure thrash metal ("Burn My Clan (The Lines Of Violence)") amplified by the aggressive throaty death metal vocals.

Self-Destruction Demo, 2010

PANDEMONIC (SWEDEN)

Underground heroes from a couple of black and death metal bands have gotten together with the intention to play classic thrash metal; and they have done exactly that: excellent classic thrash in a fast and energetic tempo with great sharp riffs, recalling Razor's later (and better) period, and early Destruction. Those of you who grew up listening to "Shotgun Messiah", will spend days with this album. Apart from the non-stop riff-fest nice lead guitar could be heard, too. With the majority of the bands coming from Sweden nowadays, concentrated on the more modern thrash/death metal hybrid genre initiated by The Haunted, it's really cool to hear such a well executed classic thrash metal work.

The Authors of Nightfear Full-length, 2000

PANDREA (ROMANIA)

One of the stalwarts of the Romanian metal scene from the 90's, and this millennium, this band plays strange non-conventional doom-death/thrash metal mixing both the classic and modern influences, but the guys' refusal to speed up, at least a bit, makes all songs sound quite samey with casual stylish avantgarde deviations: the doomy black-ish "Lucifer Satanas Historiam". "Ingeri Antiteroristi" comes too late to pour some life into the album, and remains the only one of its kind. The closer "El Grand Finale" is another avantgarde decision, but more on the awkward unlistenable side: it's 10-min long, but most of the time it's just strange noise, which at the end turns to funeral doom and haunting organ music to save it... too late again.

Instituta Suprema Full-Length, 2005

PANIC (BRA)

Based on "Rotten Church", Panic are a typical representative of the branch created by the works of early Sepultura and Sarcofago: brutal thrash bordering on death metal, obviously influenced by Possessed's "Seven Churches"; short on technicality, but long on evil atmosphere and enthusiasm.
"Best Before End" is a much better effort with its aggressive riffs and fast tempos strongly recalling Sepultura's "Beneath the Remains". The aggression is interrupted by good slower stomping thrashers ("Hannibal The Cannibal"), melodic power/thrash metal numbers ("No York, No York"), and a joke song at the end ("Shoobydahbydoobah").
"Boiling Point" is strongly influenced by the 90's groovy trends, and is the band's weakest hour, despite the presence of interesting attempts at a more stylish play ala mid-90's Voivod ("Beholder", "Satanacrack").

Rotten Church Full-length, 1990
Best Before End Full-length, 1992
Boiling Point Full-length, 1996

PANIC (USA)

The band appeared late on the scene, but their style was typical 80's thrash with a playful attitude, sounding like a less aggressive Anthrax, or early Mordred. The music has this jolly up-lifting quality, but the guitars are too sharp for this to be defined as crossover. On the other hand some tracks ("High Strung"), as well the vocal style, strangely recall Skid Row's "Slave to the Grind"; still, some pieces are really intense thrashers ("Morbid Curiosities"). The debut is the faster and better effort, whereas "Fact" introduces quite a few modern groovy elements bringing the sound close to 90's Overkill.

Epidemic Full-length, 1991
Fact Full-length, 1993

PANIC CELL (UK)

Based on "What Doesn't Kill Us": these guys pull out decent power/thrash metal of the modern variety with catchy choruses and a good vocalist, whose semi- clean, proto-Anselmo delivery is the best choice for this kind of music. There are both energetic, close to the classic school tracks ("From Father to Son", which is the opener, and raises the hopes high, but remains one of its kind), light balladic pieces ("Fallen"), as well as the obligatory leanings towards the 90's groove ("Forced Down"). The album never reaches an early Pantera-like intensity, but this is hardly the target here.
"Fire It Up" is more laid-back with more playful riffs which carry the winds of gothic/doom with them not too far from mid-period Cemetary. "Forever" is a cool heavy thrasher, and "Lie to Me" will make you jump around for a while, but the rest kind of lacks energy and life also touching the depressive mood of more recent Katatonia.

Rockaphilia EP, 2004
Bitter Part Of Me Full-length, 2004
What Doesn't Kill Us Full-length, 2007
Fire It Up Full-length, 2010

PANIKK (SLOVENIA)

Excellent retro thrash crossing the early German school with the more technical side of the Bay-Area (Metallica, Testament); after the initial fierce attack with "Trible" the music takes a more moderate direction, first with the up-tempo crusher "The Wave of Death", then with the early Testament worship "Indestructible Destruction" where the singer nicely follows the guitar tunes in a way no worse than Chuck Billy himself. "Direct" is another "direct" speedy assault finishing this promising demo which could be used as the backbone for a commendable full-length.

Demo Demo, 2009

PANNYCHIDA (RUSSIA)

Based on "New World's End", this band play a dark atmospheric blend of doom/death and thrash metal. So don't expect blasting fast music; this is mid-paced stuff with female vocals accompanying the gruff death metal main ones from time to time; a strong, but not annoying presence of keyboards, and meaty heavy riffs. The problem is that very often does the band adhere to the typical for the genre peaceful melodic interludes which stifle the more aggressive nature of the rest, and near the end they try to vary things, adding industrial and groove on the last two songs, ending up sounding like an almost different, but not better, band.

Here You Are! Full-length, 1996
Defragmentation Full-length, 1999
New World's End Full-length, 2006

PANONSKI SINDROM (CROATIA)

Based on the "Completion" demo, these Croatians, from which only the singer (Igor Brkiæ) is known, offer dry pedestrian modern post-thrash, obviiously "courting" the quasi-industrial style of acts like GZR and Biohazard. There are two very atmospheric, orchestral, all-instrumental pieces, which are a total contrast to the basic noisy rest, as well as one cover of Metallica's "Seek & Destroy" at the end, done in a curious mechanical way to suit the dominant mood on the demo, and except for the annoying synthesized, quarrelsome vocals there is little to complain about on it.

Panonski Sindrom Plays Metallica Demo 1999
Loudness Of Silence Demo 2001
Blind Demo 2003
Unstable Demo 2004
All In Vain Demo 2006
Ambivalence Demo 2008
Completion Demo, 2011

PANTERA (USA)

The masters of modern 90's thrash who actually invented the whole scene along with Exhorder; their beginnings (not included here) were in classic heavy metal, but with "Cowboys From Hell" they made a major claim at greatness. The early 90's were phenomenally successful for the band, but with Phil Anselmo taking part in numerous projects and especially after the untimely tragic death of Dimebag Darrell (R.I.P.), Pantera's impact on the contemporary metal scene would not be as strong as before.

Cowboys from Hell Full-length, 1990
Vulgar Display of Power Full-length, 1992
Biomechanical EP, 1993
Hostile Moments EP, 1994
Far Beyond Driven Full-length, 1994
Alive and Hostile E.P. EP, 1994
The Great Southern Trendkill Full-length, 1996
Becoming EP, 1996
Unofficial Hits (CD Sampler) EP, 1998
Reinventing the Steel Full-length, 2000
Extreme Steel Plus EP, 2001
Rhino Hi-Five - Pantera - EP EP, 2006

PANTHER (GERMANY)

Based on the "Total Chaos" demo, this band come up with quite a mixed bag: at their best the guys pull out awesome speed/thrash ala Destruction and Angel Dust (the opener "Terror Invasion", and the follow-up "Shame for America" which features riffs directly stolen from Destruction's "Life Without Sense"), but there is a considerable doze of hardcore here, as well as more intense, but not very appropriate, death metal parts ("Nuclear War"), and the vocals change style on every song alternating between cleaner and harsh, death metallic ones. It's most likely a compilation of smaller demos reflecting on the band's development through the years, but put together this mish-mash doesn't seem to work all the time.

Empire of Death Demo, 1989
Total Chaos Demo, 1989

PANTOKRATOR (VENEZUELA)

4 songs of cool classic speed/thrash metal with a heavy meaty guitar sound and galloping rhythms, strong bass bottom, and kind of unsuitable gruff low-tuned vocals. The music will remind you of Attacker, the Chileans Vastator, Helstar.

El es la Luz Demo, 2005

PANTOKRATOR (SWEDEN)

Based on "Blod", this band plays fairly good progressive thrash/death metal with frequent switches from one style to the other, maybe staying closer to death metal, with a dual vocal attack: low death metal growls, and vicious snarls ala Jeff Walker. The music will remind you of Carcass' "Heartwork" quite a bit with the addition of doomy, slow sections where the sound smells doom-death. Seldom can one hear guitar melodies in the vein of the Swedish melo-death wave, betraying the guys' origins, as well as some blast-beats. Near the end the band take a break from thrash/death metal with the folk/gothic number "Tidevarv", and with the short atmospheric instrumental "O Guds Lamm".
"Songs of Solomon" is not far from "Blod"; it's maybe more atmospheric and slower, doomier. "Aurum" slows down, but not much, and is quite inferior to "Blod"; the influence of the Gothenburg school is stronger, although the music preserves the progressive tendencies most of the time. A highlight or a disappointment (depending on the taste) is the massive 14-min doom epic "The Feeble Flame" which could make even bands like Katatonia (early) and Opeth proud.

AllhSrskare EP, 2000
Songs of Solomon EP, 2001
Blod Full-length, 2003
Aurum Full-length, 2007

PANZER (BRAZIL)

The guys who play here are all veterans from the Brazilian metal scene, mostly serving in thrash metal acts: C.O.A, Reviolence, Mystic, etc. Based on "Inside", the style here is heavy modern mid-paced thrash with a certain hardcore attitude. On the slower moments the music may remind you of Carnivore (their 2nd effort, in particular), but rest assured that the fierce thrashing has not been neglected: "N.S.A.", albeit only on a very few tracks. Still, the softer moments predominate, topped by the cover of Kiss' "Detroit Rock City". There is plenty of heavy riffage featured here, but it's kind of monotonous, and quickly gets boring. The guys have by all means done a much better job in the other formations.
"The Strongest" is a similar to teh debut "anial", but is even calmer, now having acquired a strong stoner/doom vibe, well expressed in the borrowed from Black Sabbath's "Heaven & Hell" riffs on "Red Days". Whenever the guys speed up ("Show Me!") they move straight to the crossover field, with a few adherences to purer thrash ("Your Blood"). "House Of Decadence" is a vintage traditional doomster, as well as the hidden track at the end "The Face". The singer entertaines himself coming as a less angry version of Phil Anselmo, and his antics are cool and unobtrusive.

Inside Full-length, 1999
The Strongest Full-length, 2001

PANZERBASTARD (USA)

Based on the Compilation: the carefree Motorhead style gets mixed with primal hardcore on this band's works resulting in moderately fast energetic music (sparce blast-beats can be heard) with nice melodic hooks coming out of nowhere, but creating a nice more serious atmosphere. The singer is suitably gruff trying to imitate Lemmy, and succeeds at times, especially on their idols' faithful cover at the end of "The Ace of ..." (was it "Hearts"?, or "Diamonds"?). The guys play in numerous other bands, the main one being the black metal outfit Cold Northern Vengeance.

Boston Demo Demo, 2006
Bastards Die Hard Demo, 2008
International Apocalypse Split Split album, 2009
Hell Gate EP, 2009
2006-2009 Best of/Compilation, 2009

PANZERHOLLE (GERMANY)

A cool, quite fast fusion of thrash and death metal, spiced with slower semi-groovy breaks in the tradition of Six Feet Under. The guitar work is quite good alternating sharp with melodic riffs to a good effect: check out the excellent "Battlefield". The singer's deep growls are maybe not the best choice bringing him close to the more brutal voices of death metal, like Karl Willets (Bolt Thrower).

And Then There Was Violence EP, 2008

PAPSMEAR (USA)

Based on the "Lunch for the P.M.R.C." demo, this is pure "Reign in Blood" worship, and very well done at that; aggressive and hard-hitting music.

Fear & Loathing in Las Vegas Demo, 1986
Lunch for the P.M.R.C. Demo, 1987
Scraping the Walls Demo, 1991
The Inhuman Condition Demo, 1992

PARABELLUM (COLOMBIA)

Based on "Sacrilegio", this is a very brutal record which could have been considered a pioneering work if it had been known back in the 80's. So what we have here is vicious ultra-aggressive black/thrash metal sounding as though coming from the deepest bowels of hell (enough with the Lovecraft influence!). One can even catch proto-death passages. Good production qualities are, of course, out of the question, but the utter brutality makes it an essential listen just for one to hear where the actual roots of the most extreme metal genres lie.

Sacrilegio EP, 1987
Mutacion Por Radiacion EP, 1988

PARACELS (RUSSIA)

A monstrous 26-track album is offered here, and we are not talking fast blitzkrieg thrashcore, but atmospheric dark thrash/death metal not far from early Crematory with an added more vigorous thrashy boost. There are a couple of very fast deathy numbers to break the depressive monotony, but their number should have been bigger. Near the end the guys tear it loose with short semi-musical hardcore-ish pieces lasting for a few seconds. See, even their patience has run out...

Encyclopedia Of Metal Full-length, 1999

PARADOX (GERMANY)

An outstanding speed/thrash metal band; the debut is excellent speed metal similar to early Helloween and Warrant, with bold hints at thrash, but with the extraordinary "Heresy" the band easily left most of the competition behind. One more album like that was needed to put them on the very top, but the band split up instead. Their comeback "Collision Course" is quite good, with a more modern and complex sound, going even into a progressive territory at times, also including a nice cover version of one of the first real speed metal classics: Scorpions' "Dynamite".
Apparently not willing to capitalize on the success of "Collision Course", the band took quite a long break, before they strike again with "Electrify". The style is not miles away from "Collision...", being more technical, albeit with more melodic guitar lines, coming as a mix of power, thrash and speed metal, and this time resembles the Polish Hellfire quite a lot on the faster sections. This is fast-paced stuff with progressive overtones, and nods to the 90's power/speed metal scene: "Monument", mostly in the catchy chorus. The guys take a break from speed more often than they have ever done before, which to these ears is a not very desirable tendency: "Portrait in Grey" and "Cyberspace Romance" are heavy, balladic pieces which would probably suit better mid-period Squealer, or modern day Helloween. While "Collision Course" was a truly satisfying slab of hard-hitting speed/thrash, recalling the incredible "Heresy" on a few moments, "Electrify" show the band spreading their wings to reach more metal sub-genres. Maybe this is the first step towards leaving the thrash metal field some time in the future?!

Well, the leaving of the thrash metal field is indefinitely postponed since with "Riot Squad" Charly Steinhauer and Co. give a reasounding "Yes" to thrash, which reverberates back to the 80's, merges with the legendary "Heresy", and even goes beyond that. One can not help, but fall into a spontaneous headbanging on the smashing opener "Suburban Riot Squad" which lashes fiery riffs from all sides until it starts to hurt. "Hollow Peace" continues the damage further thrashing like there's no tomorrow also introducing the band's characteristic choruses. "Riptide" is the definitive mid-paced thrasher offering razor-sharp riffs galore. "Rise in Rank" provides more fast speed/thrashing mayhem, a glorious speed metal hymn, short and immediate, recalling the band's debut. "Evolution Reset" is aggressive thrash, something not familiar from the guys' catalogue, an extreme number which will sprain your neck. "Nothingness" is more than welcome to offer some relief from the intense material being slower reminiscent of the more laid-back songs from "Electrify", but this one is a no-brainer with its neverending overflow of whipping riffs and a great memorable chorus. There would be no place to "survive" from the next "No Place to Survive", an ultra-speed/thrash metal explosion on which the compulsive headbanging is again guaranteed, albeit for just under 3-min. "Dream Hero" is a compelling mix of mid-paced and fast passages, producing a virtuoso mid-section, also excelling in the lead department. "Planet Terror" blends the two tendencies together again, concentrating more on the heavy pounding side, but rest assured that full compensation will be offerd on "Psychofficial": hyper-speed/thrash metal, a textbook of speed from which even acts like Fastkill, Solitaire and almost every other band will have a lot to learn. This very extreme song will finish you for good, and (un)fortunately this is the closer to this absolutely glorious return to form. It is very rare for an old timer to be able to reach the very heights of their career after a comeback, and Paradox are by all means on top of the list in this line of thought since the thrash metal "resurrection" started in the late 90's.

Product Of Imagination Full-length, 1987
Heresy Full-length, 1989
Collision Course Full-length, 2000
Electrify Full-Length, 2008
Riot Squad Full-Length, 2009

PARALYSER (USA)

Good power/thrash metal typical for the American scene of the 80's with high-pitched dramatic vocals recalling Warrel Dane's first attempts at singing in his first band Serpent's Knight. They fit the music, however, which is fast most of the time, recalling a more aggressive version of Attacker's "Second Coming", and Liege Lord's "Burn to My Touch". But you have to get used to the vocals, though, which might put a few smiles on your face for their sheer, and partially laughable, dramatism.

Demo Demo, 1988

PARALYSER (USA, Illinois)

The debut EP is hardly a "paralyzing thrash attack" beign rough mostly mid-tempo thrash metal of the old school, but uneventful and pretty boring, except for the more dynamic jumpy "Hell Zombie Armageddon", but the guitar work there becomes too melodic with a shade of crossover, totally contrasting to the bad forced shouty death metal vocals.
"Turn the World Red" is a logical continuation of the sound heard on the EP: unimaginative noisy thrash with hardcore shades, again mid-paced and clumsy, which could have taken off at some point if energetic merry crossover numbers like "Death Squad" were given more space. Watch out also for the aggressive Slayer-esque "Annuit Coeptis", those two overshadowing the monotonous rest by heaps.

Paralyzing Thrash Attack EP, 2010
Turn the World Red Full-length, 2010
Thrash Invasion Split, 2010

PARALYSIS (HOLLAND)

A standout progressive/technical thrash metal band, who started in a marvellous way with "Arctic Sleep": an exquisite opener for their career, with its five explosive songs of stupendous technical thrash, with its mighty super-technical riffs and mind-blowing leads; the tempo is fast, but frequently changes forming whirlwinds of riffs and melodies; Helstar's "Nosferatu" comes to mind quite often, too, when listening to this, but here the guitars are sharper; this short masterpiece ranks among the highest achievements of the technical genre. Every track is an exemplary "representative" of the genre, combining intense, speedy sections with swirling complex ones, the culmination probably being the closing "Arctic Sleep", which is the fastest and the most intense piece, which sudden tempo changes makes it also a very compelling elaborate affair. The vocal performance is by no means bad, but the music overshadows it a bit, which is a pity, since the guy has a powerful high-pitched voice, coming as a cross between Jeoff Tate and James Rivera. Such a strong beginning inevitably raises the question: "what happens next?".

Apparently the guys were carefully thinking over their next step, so it was no wonder that their next offering appeared whole 3 years later. When "Altered States" starts one knows that this won't be the same experience; the opener is slower, longer, and despite the presence of great technical guitars, is kind of underwhelming. After the next "Experimental Factor Genocide", which carries on in the same vein, the listener will put his hopes to hear some fast and intense music to rest (there is only one track which could fit the debut: the short bombastic technical "Twisted"), and from now on will have to adjust to the new style; and if he manages to do that, he will come across impressive progressive thrashers: the more dynamic, up-tempo "The Waters Cry", the doomy thrasher "Tardis", the atmospheric, dark "Enemies Within". "Escape from Yesterday - Suniptar" is a magnificent ballad, finished in a quite aggressive, thrashy manner: a sudden, unexpected, but satisfying touch (which could be another song, albeit too short). Despite its numerous good moments, this album remains in the shadow of the much shorter (this one here has whole 13 tracks) debut EP.
"Wonderland" sounds like a smaller version of the preceding album; again no speed involved, this time even the technicality is missing, making this small effort sound like pretty standard power/thrash, still good, relying on old songs to make it stand out: the ballad from the previous work "Escape from Yesterday", and the great technical number from the debut EP "Inhumane".
Certainly after the last not very impressive offering the interest in the band was expected to diminish, and "Architecture Of The Imagination" did not enjoy the same acceptance as before. Still, it was quite a worthy slab of progressive power metal, quite close to Hexenhaus' "Dejavoodoo" and their continuation Fifth Reason, with few moments of thrash. Songs like the excellent technical power/thrasher "Picture Picture" and the slower, but very good progressive piece "Trip" stir the mood, but the insertion of modern elements, which were strange to the band's sound before, and the lack of any more speedy passages, might make this album a somewhat tiring experience for the regular thrash metal fan, although as a piece of well executed progressive metal, this work delivers the goods on all counts.
The "Trivial Round Of Life" demo is a sure-handed slab of classic speed/thrash metal, quite intense and fast on the opening "Roman Struggle", and more controlled and galloping on the next "What's To Become Of Man". "Admonishing Famine" is an excellent speedster with semi-technical tendencies, and "Trench Reality" is not far behind lacking the technical licks, compensating with more vicious thrashy shred and very good bass support. "Is It Justified" is a fine piece of technical thrash, a convincing blend of fast and slower riffs. At this stage the guys sound more straight-forward, only lightly showing their bigger skills coming close to Target's debut "Mission Executed".

Trivial Round Of Life Demo, 1988
Arctic Sleep EP, 1991
Visions Full-length, 1994
Wonderland EP, 1996
Architecture Of The Imagination Full-length, 2000

PARAMOURE (USA)

Perfectly acceptable power/thrash metal with a typical for the 80's American scene sound in the vein of Attacker, Helstar, Liege Lord, etc. The first two shorter numbers in the beginning carry a more aggressive charge, but things get both more melodic and more complex on "Birthright (Destiny)" which is a nice combination of ballad, melodic hooks and smashing heavy galloping riffs. Then comes the brutal thrasher "The Last Danse" which is a really violent piece with shades of proto-death. "Hospital (of the Unholy Cross)" is vintage later-period Helstar with the sinister riffs and a couple of more technical hooks; and the closer "Tales from the Dark Side" is another exercise in more elaborate, almost progressive, power/thrash in mid-pace. The singer is good although his voice gets lost on the higher registers; still his attached clean delivery helps the proceedings seldom assisted by higher female vocals which belong to the bass player (Caryn "One Evil Bitch" dos Santos).

For the Love of Death... Demo, 1989

PARANOIA (ARGENTINA)

These Argentinians play heavy abrasive thrash of the more classic type with the Metallica debut an obvious influence on the edgier material ("Chicos De La Calle"), but there are also moments where the music is plain heavy metal ("Luchar Para Existir", the hard'n heavy hymn "Heroes Olvidados"). "Imperio Del Mal" is an excellent speed/thrasher also recalling Angel Dust. The singer is not really an asset singing in a dispassionate semi-clean manner.

Luchar Para Existir EP, 2006

PARANOIA (RUSSIA)

Power/thrash metal with weak vocals and one-dimensional tracks of the heavy/power metal variety with just a couple of decent thrashy headbangers present.

Mest' Zla Full-length, 1993

PARANOIA (USA)

Good thrash/crossover, not too far from the more thrashy D.R.I. releases.

The Many Faces Of Full-length, 1989

PARANOID AGONY (AUSTRIA)

An obscure addition to the fairly barren Austrian thrash metal scene; and a worthy one at that, sticking to the 80's laws with hard-hitting riffs and stylish semi-technical decorations. The vocals are brutal low-tuned death metal ones, and the guys are expert at mixing faster and slower moments to a quite impressive effect: the haunting dark "Prisoner Of Egotism". There is a gloomy gothic atmosphere permeating the whole album, but rest assured that gothic dreamy pieces are nowhere to be heard; well, "The Unknown" could pass for one with its slightly retouched guitars in the spirit of the Swedes Cemetary. But right after it comes the best song here: "Diabolic Force", which is a lashing headbanging thrasher, followed by the explosive, but also melodic "Educational Result". The end is preserved for the punk-ish/crossover cover of the Austrian singer Reinhard Mey's "Uber Den Wolken".

A View in Agony Full-length, 1998

PARANORM (SWEDEN)

A cool slab of intense old school thrash metal with hard riffs and quite good leads of the both screamy and melodic (check the exiting section for the latter) type. The guys prefer to play fast and tight inserting the odd more technical hook ("The Indoctrinated") here and there. "Strike Hard, Strike Fast" definitely deserves its ambitious title being a fine short bashing speedster which for some reason reminds of a more extreme version of Venom's "Black Metal". On the closing "Trail of Blood" the guys take a break playing in a more moderate mid-pace with the casual faster twist. The sound quality is not bad at all if we exclude the hollowly-sounding at times drums.
The "Pandemonium's Rise" EP sees the guys well-equipped to hit on a full-length scale, producing another slab of cool vigorous speed/thrash, this time taking some of the flavour of their homeland, with a more modern melo-thrash sound ("Atmospheres") heard at times. Two of the songs from the demo are also featured here ("The Indoctrinated: & "Strike Hard, Strike Fast"), but the newer stuff beats them, "Aggressive Inhibitions" being an "aggressive" speed/thrashy cut with nice technical tendencies, recalling both Paradox again and the Bay-Area scene; and "Shattered Future Tense" being a fine more serious number in mid-pace, graced by good melodic hooks. "Predators of Peace" is another smashing thrasher with slower breaks and rolling guitars, reminiscent of the early Destruction days. The singer has a suitable mean, vicious tember, coming as a less screechy Mille with a touch of death.

Demo Demo, 2010
Pandemonium's Rise EP, 2011

PARANORMAL (GREECE)

A decent debut from Greece of varied classic/modern thrash metal ranging from all-out speed/thrashers ala Whiplash ("Fake Friend") to heavy proto-groovers ("War"). Both tendencies alternate throughout the album leaving small room for the good old crossover ("Fuss Up Your Ass") to wrap it up nicely at the end. The drummer gives a good performance, unlike the singer whose raw semi-shouty synthesized pitch is a major detraction.

Paranormal Full-length, 2010

PARAPLEGIC (NORWAY)

This obscure act offers an uneven mix of straight bashing thrash/death metal of the old school and modern 90's clumsy groove. Needless to say, the former side is much more appealing as well as a couple of more stylish decisions with an industrial flavour ala 90's Prong. Near the end there is also one intense exercise in pure hardcore which is the perfect fit for the gruff shouty singer.

Strawberry Letter 23 Full-length, 1995

PARASITE (COLOMBIA)

The guys from the classic thrashers Atrox have moved on with this band, although the music is not a very distant departure from the other act: in other words, we have energetic retro speed/thrash metal which is pretty wild and aggressive (the speed "bomb" "Say Nothing And Suffer", the intense Slayer-esque "The Taste Of Fear") for most of the time without many unnecessary deviations from the formula.

Infected Pleasure EP, 2009

PARASYTIC (USA)

Thrash/crossover in the vein of D.R.I. and early Ratos de Porao; the guys play fast and tight coming up with cool headbanging winners. Still, a personal favourite here is the mid-paced hammering "Spiral" with the lighter speed metal delight "Mad Men", and especially the blitzkrieg speed/thrashing "Hogs", very close seconds. The closing "Animal Sacrifice" is also worth mentioning being a longer more complex composition alternating furious super- fast sections with more elaborate, even technically-sounding, ones.
"Poison Minds" is another "wild animal", the guys moshing out fast and tight with expected more relaxed numbers along the way, but there are none of the kind on at the end which is occupied by four "aces" of dynamic blitzkrieg thrash/crossover again recalling the aforementioned Brazilians. The more intriguing moments from the debut have been left undeveloped, but apparently the band are not willing to stretch too much at this stage sticking with the headbangers, which is by all means the right choice.

Hymn Full-Length, 2008
Poison Minds Full-length, 2010

PARIAH (UK)

After the climactic "Suspended Sentence", arguably the finest British thrash metal offering, Satan decided to change their "satanic" name again, like they did in 1985 by adapting the name Blind Fury for the release of one classic NWOBHM album, by choosing the less suggestive Pariah. "The Kindred" was an immediate follow-up to the aforementioned album under the new name, so few were the surprised ones who heard the explosive opening galloper "Gerrymander" which brought a certain Bay-Area vibe into the band's approach. The chugga-chugga riffs on "The Rope" are something new, though, without the subtle meldies typical for the band, but the track works on all counts, not without the catchy chorus ("I see you... hanging at the end of a rope!"). "Scapegoat" serves more hard-hitting thrash, and up to this point there is nothing outside the thrash metal genre to be heard; and until the end what one will come across is serious solid thrashing in a predominant up-tempo, which only drawback would be the lack of many technical leanings which were quite common for "Suspended Sentence". The bonus track "Show Your Face" is pure speed metal with great leads, and could have been made earlier, during the Satan days.
"Blaze of Obscurity" is closer in spirit to the last Satan album, retouching the less compromising Bay-Area sound of the debut, and the first number "Missionary Of Mercy" already sounds both more melodic and more technical. "Puppet Regime" is an energetic speed metal cut, another reminder of the band's early days, and "Canary" is a sharper, more thrashy number with nice merry melodic leads. "Blaze Of Obscurity" is a kind of a clumsy semi-ballad, but the 2.5-min "Retaliate!" is direct, in-your-face thrash, and until the end we have a more aggressive thrashy delivery, quite close to "The Kindred". This album was not a very radical move from the debut, but the initial technical showings never materialized later on, and the softer approach in the beginning was not so well compensated, making this offering another good, but hardly exceptional, slice of metal. Afterwards two of the band members (Graeme English & Steve Ramsey) joined Martin Walkyier in Skyclad, and the band was put on hold.
The band were back earlier than the flood of comebacks witnessed a few years later, with the two Skyclad guys on board again, and "Unity" sees them going back to the Blind Fury days for the production of mild power/speed metal with timid attempts at thrash, plus several modern elements thrown in the mix, without bringing anything too good to the proceedings. As a result this is the band's weakest achievement, despite the effort put by the new throat Alan Hunter, the Tysondog singer, who sings in a clean attached way well suited to the more temperate musical approach.

The Kindred Full-length, 1988
Blaze of Obscurity Full-length, 1989
Unity Full-length, 1998

Vibrations of Doom

PARITY BOOT (GERMANY)

Based on the first demo, this is modern, industrialized at times, thrash metal with alternative elements added as well. A nice touch is the clean vocals as opposed to the synthesized hardcore-ish apocalyptic shouts, but they would be more suitable for a gothic/wave act. The style will probably remind you of a more thrashy Misery Loves Co. (Sweden) or Die Krupps.

Demo Demo, 2004
Demo Demo, 2006

PARRICIDE (UK)

3 songs which tread the agressive thrash metal path in a way not too dissimilar to Sepultura's "Beneath the Remains" and Attomica's "Disturbing the Noise"; good intense music with a slight technical edge ("Carrion") and cool semi-clean vocals which become quite gruff and sinister when needed. "Presumed Dead" shows more courage, lashing out in a furious proto-death manner also touching Incubus' "Serpent temptation".

Self Inflicted Biopsy Demo, 1990

PARRICIDE (USA)

This is the band where the Ritual Sacrifice guitarist Bill Pincins continued his career, albeit briefly. This 4-track EP is capable old school thrash with nice semi-technical tendencies, recalling Possessed's "Eyes of Horror" and Torture's "Storm Alert". The tempo is energetic, adhering to some blasts (from the past): "Ends Will Meet". Thrash with no mercy is what one will hear on "A Future Of Suffering" and "Inhuman Condition", whereas on the other two the pace varies with the strong bass support being present all over. The singer rends his lungs out in a way no worse than Steve Reynolds (Demolition Hammer).

A Future of Suffering EP, 1995

PARTYONWAYNE (USA)

This is rough sludgy groovy post-thrash, which wears thin even for a 5-song demo, simply because the band refuses to speed up even on occasion (a solitary short section from "Tiki Barber Sneak Attack" is the sole exception), playing in a predictable slow-ish fashion with repetitive riffs and song- structures. The singer does a further damage with his rending agonizing mid-tuned death (literally) metal growl.

Let Me Go Demo, 2009

PASCAL (POLAND)

Based on the "Collection of Destroyed Brains" demo, these guys try to offer something out of the ordinary, and succeed most of the time. This is technically-minded thrash with death-ish vocals, clearly rooted in the 80's sound, which reminds me of the Chuck Schuldiner (R.I.P.) side-project Control Denied, but with a considerably more thrashy edge: the riffs keep flowing and they are quite interesting and change often, without being too aggressive or fast. Another band their music could be compared to, is their compatriots from Astharoth, maybe less adventurous, and with a better bass bottom which is so good that often just overshadows the other instruments completely. And that's why the guitar work really tries hard to be in pace with it, which creates the impression that the guitarists compete with the bassist, and from this the listener only wins, as there are plenty of pyrotechnics from both sides to satisfy him. This is an engaging listen, with a lot of musicianship involved, and the intricate nature of the music might not be the headbanger's paradise, but those who are willing to take more care into the proceedings, will surely be rewarded.
The majority of the acts who released nice demos in the early 90's failed to fulfill the promises with their future full-lengths; apparently the early 90's still carried echoes from the 80's, which with every passing year was fading away. Pascal are no exception to this rule; after the good demos came "About a Man", which shows an obvious fascination with the 90's tendencies for the sake a complete loss of the technical flair from their older material. This is hard to be classified as thrash, based only on the edgier "My Soul is...", which is still miles away from even the average songs from the past. The other place where someone may raise his eyebrow, would be the really aggressive "Vision and Prayer part IV" and "To Others Than You", where a brutal death metal grunting has been included on a power/doom/thrash metal background. The rest is a pretty awful mix of alternative, post-thrash and ballads, with not even a shade of technicality or a more intriguing play. This release gives a perfect picture of the very bad state of metal during the mid-90's, and particularly in 1995; albums like this could have only been released back then...

Pascal Demo, 1991
Collection of Destroyed Brains Demo, 1992
About a Man Full-length, 1995

PATECABRA (CHILE)

Vicious, brutal, fast black/thrash metal is what is on offer here. The band seldom slow down; the music is close to Alastor from Portugal, but played much faster, and with a more aggressive attitude.

Patecabra EP, 2005
El Horror Full-length, 2007

PATEK XIII (CZECH)

A capable entry into the thrash metal catalogue of 2010 which offers a mix of fast direct thrashers (in the beginning) and heavier, almost epic-sounding, pieces the latter touching Bifrost on the more intense moments. A slight pullback is the overlong string of moderate power/thrashers without any speedy insertions which compensate with a lot of atmosphere and longer more thought-out decisions; the sound is not bad at all on those, but will satisfy the power metal fans, above all. "Poltergeist" comes to energize the situation a bit, but at some point it also turns into a moody power/thrasher where belong the remaining two songs, the closing "Nightmare" being a standout progressive opus alternating between fast aggressive passages and atmospheric proto-doomy ones the whole time ably assisted by excellent operatic female vocals which deliver way better than the main gruff semi-death metal ones.

Videothrash Full-length, 2010

PATHOS (SWEDEN)

One of the best Swedish metal bands of the past 10 years; progressive power/thrash metal with touches of doom. The debut is a really impressive beginning, which came right on time to replace Hexenhaus on the top of the Swedish thrash metal scene: fabulous technical thrash not too far from masterpieces like Mind-Ashes' "The Views Obscured" and Hexenhaus' "Awakening". The vocals are excellent, very close to Messiah Marcolin, but the music seldom smells doom, and when it does, it comes closer to Memento Mori, rather than Candlemass. The opening "Mask Of Fear" is sweeping epic thrash with speed and heaviness perfectly blended together. Two milder more immediate numbers come clinging more towards the power metal field, before "What Now" comes crashing down pouring steel riffs galore. "Transform" is another more laid-back progressive metal composition, but "Act on Impulse" is already a different story: a formidable dramatic thrasher with super-heavy riffage. A short string of power metal-based numbers follow suit leaving the end for "Violence Breeds": top-notch dark power/thrash in the vein of Nevermore, and the final "Scorned", a fine mixture of sharp thrashy riffs and sudden melodic breaks, the latter too short, but a nice stylish touch.
"Uni Versus Universe" is not too different from the debut, and is another stellar effort, but the sound is more complex, the guitars are even more technical, and the tracks are longer with power metal saying its word more often. "Mutation" is one of the finest songs the band ever composed: dramatic progressive power/thrash with outstanding vocal performance, but the closing "Negative Spheres", on the other hand, is a total waste of 6-min being a very quiet acoustic instrumental. Still, heavy steam-rolling pieces like "Rest Your Mind" and the power/doomster "Uni Versus Universe" can not be ignored; neither can the faster more thrashy side of the album which is reflected in the short more immediate "Weight of the World" and the more complex progressive speed/thrasher "Under The Lence".
"Katharsis" starts in an awesome way with the title track, another great dynamic technical thrasher with steel technical guitars and brilliant melodic leads, a headstart for the album which later turns into one of the most impressive entries into the technical thrash metal cicuit of the 90's. "Inhale" is a fabulous epic thrasher with nice speedy implements. Another exercise in technical mastery follows suit on "Suicidal Saviour Lies", a steam-roller of the highest order with, again, a couple of faster moments. "Violated" is an intense aggressive take on progressive metal with jumpy up-tempo rhythms and fine slower semi-balladic insertions. "Inject Reject" is a crusher of the slower, and more immediate, type, but "Revelation" returns to the the ultra-heavy riffage and the more dynamic pace. "Borrowed Time" is a dark power/thrasher ala Nevermore, an instant classic with a memorable chorus and an overflow of riffs. "Detonation" is a pure thrash metal aggression in mid-tempo, and the next "Inner Ego" offers just a slight relief with its dramatic arrangements and spiral-like riffs, technical/progressive thrash at its absolute best with a nice atmospheric interlude. "Time To Act" is the ultimate technical speed/thrash metal piece, with the following "Torn" being a milder proto-doomy composition reminiscent of the guys' compatriots Memento Mori transforming into the creepy balladic outro "Divine Intentions". The new singer has a less adventurous tember, but his clean emotional tone doesn't stray too much from the bellows of the old one. It was difficult to imagine how the band would be able to top up this masterpiece, but they didn't really bother with that (and rightfully), forming two other acts later: the power/speed/thrash metal heroes Nostradameus and the folk metal formation Fejd. The guys are still active, by the way, and something mighty from their camp may follow soon...

Hoverface Full-length, 1997
Uni Versus Universe Full-length, 1998
Katharsis Full-length, 2002

PATRIARCA (PARAGUAY)

The fourth metal band from Paraguay I have listened to, making me want to dedicate a certain part of my life researching the metal scene over there. This is Bay Area thrash with brilliant guitar work which might put many Shrapnel heroes to shame. These guys can certainly go far.

Destrucci+n Massiva Demo, 2002
Metal Hasta La Eternidad Demo, 2004

PATRIARCH (BELGIUM)

A relative late comer on the thrash metal scene, Patriarch play an interesting brand of epic power metal, "accompanied" by a healthy "pinch" of thrash, somewhat along the lines of the Swiss Drifter, but Patriarch are more power metal-based. Worthy of note are the excellent vocals ranging from forceful thrashy notes to wailing high- pitched ones. Both albums are in the same style, but the debut is decidedly the better effort. The compositions mix more intense thrashy riffs, with epic/power metal ones, and those latter ones bring nice melodic choruses with them. The longer, progressively-laced songs are by far the band's more attractive side: "Shadowland" is a masterpiece of progressive power/speed/thrash; still some of the shorter numbers pack a punch no worse, like the energetic speed/thrasher "Father Kreator", and the fine stomping heavy thrash instrumental "Prophecy". But at least half of the songs are mid-paced, melodic power metal with hints at thrash, not bad at all, with cool melodic hooks. The sophomore release emphasizes on the melodic aspect, leaving the thrashing a bit behind.
The veterans are back after 10 years of absence, and it was high time for another act from Belgium to emerge in order to provide some competition for the up-and-coming After All, although in this particular case After All have no reasons to worry whatsoever. "Mankind The Virus" is just a decent effort, offering a style similar to the one heard on the band's older releases, in other words melodic power/thrash with progressive tendencies on the longer compositions ("Mankind The Virus"). The best comes when the guys seamlessly blend lyrical melodic passages with sudden hard-hitting outbursts ("Drowning In Madness"), but this only happens once. "No One Wins" is a nice pounding galloping number, but later on the album loses steam, introducing echoes from the groovy 90's ("Broken White", "Prise Of A Nation"), as well as not really impressive heavy metal pieces ("Inside"). The closer "Legion" tries hard to capture lost ground, and succeeds, thrashing with a nice technical edge in mid-tempo for more than 8-min. The band doesn't betray their vintage sound, but in a heavily populated scene like the modern one, with high quality acts springing up from all parts of the world, it takes more to be the order of the day.
The "Deity" EP is a cool 4-song effort reminding of the band's fans that their favourite musicians are alive and well, just waiting for the right time to strike again. The music is not far removed from the one offered on the full-lengths, but the small number of the compositions makes them stick out more. "Hatred" is a forceful power/thrasher with a strong Nevermore vibe, a steam-rolling mid-pacer, the heavy squashing riffage well translated on the following "How Far", which is the only track which slightly "flirts" with the modern 90's riffage at some stage. "Enigma" is hardly anything "enigmatic", but is a cool semi-ballad with dramatic overtones. "Psychic Wars" wraps it up with more intense thrashy riffage (don't read fast) in the spirit of the 80's US scene, and despite the readiness shown with this small offering for a fuller rerurn to the scene, the band took their time once again, to re-appear some 10 years later.

Prophecy Full-length, 1991
World Within Worlds Full-length, 1993
Deity EP, 1998
Mankind The Virus Full-length, 2008

PATRIARCH (RUSSIA)

A cool entry into the retro thrash metal catalogue of recent years, suffering a bit from the low-tuned deathy vocals. Otherwise this is intense stuff with strecthes towards proto-death ("Iarost"), with a few reliefs: the crossover joke "Russian Vodka", which remains a pretty speedy piece; the heavy metal closer "Moskovskie Oktainui". The guitars are very clear with a slight pounding quality, but are boosted by the good production.

Na Poroge Bezumia EP, 2011

PAURA (BRAZIL)

Based on "Reverse The Flow", these guys play hardcore-ish thrash with a modern edge, which sounds quite hard-hitting and enjoyable, implemented by some cool melodic hooks. The music meanders from fast thrashers ("Drive By Fire"), which are the predominant ones, to heavy, crushing ones ("Old Tools Work").

First Release Full-length, 1996
The Myth is Dead EP, 2002
Youkillusweovercome Full-length, 2005
Reverse the Flow Full-length, 2007

PC DEATH SQUAD (USA)

Energetic thrash/crossover with a slight alternative bite, sounding like a mix between D.R.I. and Rage Against The Machine. The track "Fuck Metallica" has a more than a clear message, but this should be more fitting for a band who are at least half as proficient musicians as the band mentioned in the song title. These guys are not...

Too Fat For Love Full Length,2005

PEACE SANCTUARY (USA)

The presence of the ex-Skrew guitarist Steve Green may raise your hopes a bit, but this offering is nothing more than the already trite at that stage groovy post-thrash formula, mellow semi-jumpy stuff with better semi-clean vocals. "Feel The Heat" is a cool crushing stomper, but the rest is too boring and one-dimensional to stay in your mind.

Defy the System Full-length, 1996

PEARL HARBOUR

This obscure act offer heavy mid-paced post-thrash, showing a band which have quickly grasped the modern trends, and more particularly, the style of the Black Album, spiced with a couple of offbeat tunes (funk, etc.), which are very tastelessly used. By all means skip the closing ballad "For Those Who Made My Days", which is the farthest thing from thrash imaginable, and might make you hate yourselves for listening to the preceding, below average material.

Ladt Zum Tanz! EP, 1992

PEATH2 (JAPAN)

Modern all-instrumental thrash mixing energetic up-tempo moments, heavy groovy sections and complex progressive arrangements quite well with the lead guitarist clearly being the star of the show whose pyrotechnics are not far from those of masters like Joe Satriani (who is the main influence on the guy) and Steve Vai. The riffs are not given much room to develop, though, as the leads take a considerable space stifling the cool thrashiness on edgy hectic numbers like "Deathscythe And A Cluster Amarlls".
"Electric Red - Red Recollection" is not too far style-wise from its predecessor, although the sound has become thicker and heavier, and a bit more energetic perhaps, even trying a cool headbanging section on "Dark Conflict". Them elody takes very nice proportions on the excellent diverse "Lunatrace", both in the lead and riff department. The dreaminess come sa bit too much, probably, in the middle, where the approach settles for slightly boring semi-abstract structures and oblivious heavy riffs saved by the nice leads. "Blood Awakening" will indeed "awake" you near the end with aggressive proto-death shred, but the closing 9-min opus "The Illusions" will disappoint offering clumsy groovy dissonant guitars which don't really serve right the superior lead guitar work.

Red Hazard Full-Length, 2009
Electric Red - Red Recollection Full-Length, 2010

PECHAT ZVERIA (RUSSIA)

This is just one song seeing a band in the raw black/thrash metal camp akin to early Bathory with a pinch of solemn doominess ala Barathrum, this unrehearsed mid-tempo mix assisted by rough brutal blask-ish vocals.

Mir Izchez Demo, 2011

PEDIFILE (USA)

Another worthy band who passed unnoticed, and quite undeservedly; this act played fast, aggressive thrash/death metal akin to Possessed's "Seven Churches" and Dark Angel's "Darkness Descends", probably a tad more intense. The opener from their first demo "Shackle The Jackal" could easily pass for the first real death metal track. The second demo surprisingly comes with a much worse, fuzzy sound which considerably takes away from the music quality, but the intense delivery from the debut demo is almost completely preserved. This band is another proof that there were forces working in the underground which did as much to establish the more extreme metal genres as the much more famous and celebrated ones.

Die a Violent Death Demo, 1986
Round 2 Demo, 1987

PEDO (ARGENTINA)

A 4-track demo of thrash/crossover with merry, punk-ish overtones not miles away from Lawnmower Deth; well, this definition goes for the 3 songs; the last one is a sudden switch onto more aggressive proto-death riffage, and it stretches into whole 6-min, which is quite a lot, compared to the twice as short length of the other material.

Holocausto Fecal Demo, 2007

PELVIC FURY (USA)

Elaborate progressive modern thrash/death, which base is the Gothenburg school, but there is quite a cocktail mixed on it. Some compositions are more straight-forward with galloping rhythms and melodic guitar hooks ("The Pusher"), others are really complex affairs with the jumpy frantic sections and super-technical riffs (the multi-layered masterpiece "Unrequited", which will stun you with the immaculate guitar performance, both in the lead and riff department). The instrumental "Crossing the Seas" crosses the two tendencies, focusing more on the melodic side. "Instrumentum Diaboli" is a direct up-tempo thrasher, followed by another, this time purely acoustic, instrumental: "Dissociative Fugue In E Minor". The more technical and aggressive delivery returns with "Bedshift", and the lead performance hits the top on the energetic speed/thrashing "Reparations". The closer "Carrion Baggage" is a bit of a drawback, offering not very impressive conventional thrash/death for more than 7-min, a situation partially saved by the superb leads again.

Non-Euclidean Nightmare Full-length, 2008

PENDEMIA (UK)

A very obscure thrash metal band from the UK whose style reminds of Violence's "Eternal Nightmare" (strong similarities in the vocal department) and Evildead's "Annihilation Of Civilization"; quite good, aggressive stuff, albeit a bit short- only 6 songs. There is certain hardcore aesthetics in the approach, brought also by the good, forceful vocals, coming as a mixture between Billy Milano and John Connely.

Narcotic Religion Full-length, 1990

PENDULUM (USA)

Based on the "Atrocity Sin" demo, these guys come up with a fairly interesting slab of classic thrash. The music is by all means technical, but is quite heavy, and features too much: very stylish melodic guitars with an Oriental shade (the beginning of "Atrocity Sin"), intense proto-death sections ("Sardonic Wrath"), very proficient lead guitar work all over, but above all numerous original moments, which climax is the technical thrash masterpiece "Crown of Thorns"- an encyclopaedia of amazing riffage which would stand proud even on Nasty Savage's "Penetration Point", and could easily be the highlight there as well. There is so much you would hear throughout its 8-min, from the brilliant lead in the beginning to the closing aggressive guitar section, that you might want to take a break from metal for a few hours after that. Now the big hunt begins for their other works...

The debut EP is 4 tracks, but the first one is just a quiet balladic instrumental interlude; after it the guys start thrashing like mad in a brutal uncontrolled manner coming quite close to the appealing chaos of "Darkness Descends" going well over it with furious grinding sections on "Kindred Spirit". There is nothing technical here, this is violent thrash/proto-death also rubbing shoulders with the first attempts at death metal made from the States at the time.

Skull Fuck EP, 1989
Atrocity Sin Demo, 1990
Vlad the Impaler EP, 1991
Vlad the Impaler Demo, 1991

PENETRATOR (FRANCE)

Based on the "First Penetration" demo: this is simplistic thrash with a clear classic edge, but with a horrible sound quality, especially the one of the guitars which are so fuzzy that create the impression that all that had been one of the earliest products, where everything has been made on a computer, and very quickly. This is quite aggressive stuff which sounds not far from Necrodeath's early efforts. "Spermrace" goes well beyond that, and ventures into brutal death/black metal territories. The vocals are horrible, hysterical black-ish shrieks which might scare the unprepared.

"Beyond Your World" offers much more proficient, albeit more melodic, stuff, very well executed retro thrash with interesting, quite avantgarde, eccentric melodic vocals, which plainly slubber, but in an enjoyable (this depends on the taste, of course) way, at times, and fast energetic tempos. The album begins vigorously accelerating gradually until it reaches the semi-technical bombastic "Eros Abused" reminiscent of early Rigor Mortis with a twist. Classic speed/thrash at its best is offered on the next "Happy Beer's Day", again with a slight technical touch, followed by the similar speedster "Through the Screen". More variety is offered on the power/speed/thrash mixture "All Bitches" which will startle you with the raging super-fast ending. "Suicidal Army" settles for a more laid-back up-tempo delivery, but "One Night" will tear down the walls being another heads-down speed/thrasher with interesting melodic variations in the middle. "P.E.N.E.T.R.A.T.O.R." is 3-min of aggressive furious thrash, a headbanging fest at its finest, overshadowing the final "Birds" which is a lengthy more complex number sustained in mid-pace except for the speedy mid-break. This is a really pleasant, albeit a very obscure, surprise from the early-90's French scene ranking as high as same year's No Return's "Contamination Rises" and Massacra's "Enjoy the Violence" although this one has no ties to death metal.

First Penetration Demo, 1987
...Live! Demo, 1989
Just a Rehearsal Demo, 1989
Now... EP, 1990
Wishing Demo, 1990
Beyond Your World Full-length, 1991
Maria Gave Me Rock 'N' Roll EP, 1993
White Hell Demo, 1991

PENTAGRAM (CHILE)

A great underground band who beat the majority of the more famous Chilean acts easily. This is one of the big influences on the more extreme side of the metal scene which evolved from the works of bands like this one. The style is agressive thrash with proto-death passages, recalling Possesssed and Slayer. Two of the band members later formed another very good, but on a different level, act: Dorso.

Rehearsal Tape Demo, 1986
Demo l Demo, 1987
Fatal Prediction/Demoniac Possession EP, 1987
Demo #2 Demo, 1987
White Hell Demo, 1991

PEOPLE AGAIN (USA)

Based on the split, these guys offer noisy hardcore/thrash, not fast, but mostly mid-tempo with a few twisted riffs ala Hellhammer involved as well. There is some industrial aesthetics ala The Norwegians Red Harvest present, too.

People Again - Sarjan Hassan Split, 2009

PEQUOD (GERMANY)

Based on the full-length, this band plays modern Gothenburg thrash/death metal which also comes with a pinch of groove. Otherwise, the fast numbers predominate frequently "ornated" by metalcore breaks and very good melodic leads (check the excellent atmospheric closer "D.r.o.w.n.") the latter creating a weird contrast to the harsh expressive death metal vocals.

PequoD EP 2004
Forgotten Full-Length, 2011

PERFECT CHAOS (FINLAND)

Based on "The Eightbound Five", these guys pull out your average modern thrash which hesitates between frantic jumpy sections and more ordinary groovy ones. There are a couple of straight headbanging moments directly taken from the Gothenburg textbooks ("Blind Horizon", "Ill Whispers"), and the guitar work is not bad; it's just that this stuff has been, and is being, played by quite a lot of bands at the moment.

Breed Hate : Steer Fate Full-length, 2004
The Eightbound Five Full-length, 2007

PERFECT ONE (BRAZIL)

A heavy blend of thrash and death metal, strictly modern, with very brutal grunting vocals; the guys have an interesting tendency to slow down suddenly with stomping doomy passages which in their turn come accompanied by clean mid-ranged vocals.

Redemption EP, 2010

PERGAMENT (SERBIA)

Very good thrash metal, similar to Forbidden and Heathen; up-tempo to fast, energetic riffs, fused with stylish technical passages. The EP softens the course, and is the lesser effort, introducing more melodic, but equally as effective, technical riffs. The music is not fast all the time, and some stomping thrashers sound even more appealing than the rest: "Red Hot Frontier". "Baby You Are Fire" is a letdown with its pop-ish guitars ala Ratt. The last song "Children of A Savage Kind" is just a little improvement over it being a melodic galloping power/speed metal number.

Vruca Linija Full-length, 1988
Mr.War EP, 1990

PERISHING MANKIND (AUSTRIA)

Thrash metal acts from Austria are a rarity these days, but this country would need more talented bands than the one here, to put it back on the metal map. What we have here is (based on "Wonderland") quite typical modern thrash, mixing faster parts with slower, groovy ones. Those second parts are more melodic, reminding of Machine Head's mid-period. There are shades of the Gothenburg sound in the guitar department, but it's the drier, less melodic numbers which work better: "Charge". Some heavy-handed funky/alternative passages can be heard on "Sad Day".

Fall of Men Full-length, 2005
Wonderland Full-length, 2007

PERMANENT DAMAGE (AUSTRALIA)

An obscure trio providing (based on the EP) a more melodic brand of thrash/crossover, which is still up-tempo and energetic; it's just that the riffs lack the requisite sharp edge, relying more on softer, melodic guitars (check out the excellent lead section on "Wasted Dreams", which would make you think that the guitarist had wasted his time playing such simplistic stuff having in mind his real abilities). The singer is a capable hardcore semi-shouter, who recites in a sure-handed, attached manner for most of the time.

Permanent Damage EP, 1985
End of Innocence Full-length, 1987

PERPETUAL (SPAIN)

This band offer a mix of the retro sound and modern implements, with a certain technical edge, which makes it a nice companion piece to Ktulu's same year's "Orden Genetico". The music is mid-paced to up-tempo, with several more intense moments and stylish technical hooks: the cool technical thrasher "Domination", the excellent up-tempo riff-fests "Perpetual Sacrifice" and "Fatality Night", the heavy galloping "Walking to Destroy". "This is the World" and "Walk Strong" are more direct thrashers, put near the end, followed by the album closer: "Ger a Life"- a magnificent instrumental piece, with outstanding guitar performance (the leads in particular), and a whirlwind of tempos and moods. Quite well conformed with the demands of the day, this remained the band's only effort, who were apparently not willing to join the growing cohorts of modern thrash metal acts.

Everything will End Full-length, 1994

PERPETUAL WARFARE (COLUMBIA)

This is retro thrash metal with very good bass performance, nice semi-technical decisions and forceful semi-clean vocals akin to Jon Van Doorn (Deathwish). The tempos vary the whole time, and the screaming leads are not bad. The serious brooding tone is broken once by the merry crossover piece "Guerra Perpetua", but the rest is pretty hard-hitting, and often very speedy, thrash with the bass stealing the show almost completely on a few songs (check out the closer "Muerto En Pogo").

Justicia, Libertad y Decadencia Full-length, 2010

PERSECUTION (AUSTRALIA)

An excellent 4-track demo of aggressive thrash metal sounding like a nice combination between Slayer and early Death with fast, semi-technical riffs ala late-80's Destruction also present. The sound quality is great, the musicianship is top-notch, but the mystery remains: where did these guys go after such a promising start?! With so much talent displayed it was obvious that this band could have owned the Australian extreme metal scene during the early 90's...

Tortured Existence Demo, 1989

PERSECUTOR (POLAND, Pabianice)

The "Wings of Death" demo offers furious black/thrash, quite fast, and throughout the 9 compositions included here one will seldom hear anything more than speedy, to the point of absurdity sometimes, blasting black/thrash metal. The 2nd half calms down desirably, and some sensible thrashers spring up: "Nihilistic Force", the 1.5-min of thrashing shredding instrumentality "Nuclear Command", and even meaty mid-tempo riffs can one hear on the last "Branded by the Reaper".
"Bestial Overkill" is more controlled speed-wise offering more restrained, still quite fast, pieces with raging riffs which try hard to justify the pompous titles ("Possessed by Speed"), and succeed for most of the time. Death metal sneaks on the more brutal numbers ("Mental Wars"). A good sense of melody and a slower tempo is displayed on the longer "Bestial Overkill", which is followed by the choppy speed/thrasher "Venom of Deceit", the highlight on the album, with a nice discordant bass support. Expect no mercy, though, on the furious closer "Ancient Conjuration" which brings back the black metal madness for a while along with stylish technical death metal insertions.

Army of Damned Demo, 2007
Wings of Death Demo, 2008
Bestial Overkill Full-length 2011

PERSECUTOR (POLAND, Zielona Gora)

Cool thrash ala late 80's Slayer with a nice alternation between heavy crushing riffs and faster more intense ones; there is also presence of a more modern sound akin to Sepultura's "Chaos AD" ("The Art of Killing").

Demo Demo, 2007

PERSEIDAN (SPAIN)

This band's debut is very diverse: at times it's modern death metal, at times it's stupendous technical thrash, at times it acquires solemn gothic tendencies. The vocals also vary according to the sound changes- particularly impressive are those which are dead ringers for John Tardy from Obituary, as opposed to the more predominant, Chuck Billy-like ones. The album starts really promising, with the first 2 tracks offering excellent aggressive technical thrash in the vein of Gammacide and early Invocator, but later the guys show a lot more up their sleeve, with the longer, calmer, gothic-laced "God's Rehearsal". After it faster, thrash/death songs take turns with softer, slower ones, creating a somewhat disjointed feeling. "Outside" is particularly impressive, "marrying" both sides of the music into one, resulting into a really fine dark progressive thrash/death piece, with never a dull moment throughout its 9-min. "Generous Murder", the closer, attempts something similar, but the overuse of Swedish death metal guitars, and the very long orchestral interlude in the middle, make it the lesser achievement.

New Method of Virtual Fiction Full-length, 2005

PERVERSIFIER (FRANCE)

The demo shows a band playing fast-paced retro thrash ala early Whiplash. This is really good stuff also reminding of more recent practitioners like The Swedes Cranium and The Portuguese Alastor. "Alcoholic Necrolord" is a softer offering with a jolly Motorhead/Exciter flavour, but all heads will fall down on the merciless speedster "The Goatkult Perversion". "Total Evil" is not too far behind it also nodding towards the German school with its rolling riffs. "Post Nuclear Armaggedon" justifies its title with sharp fast riffage and the heavy Slayer-esque mid-break. Venom's "Black Metal" awaits you at the end turned into an uplifting speed/thrasher well adjusted to the band' style. The singer, actually, recalls Cronos with his drunken rough tember, but music-wise both acts have not much in common.

Thrash'n'Black Assault Demo, 2009
Nuklear Metalkoholik Attack Split, 2010

PERVERSOR (CHILE)

The EP offers 4 tracks of evil misanthropic black/thrash, quite fast and brutal, assisted by agonizing tortured black metal vocals. The guys certainly slow down to up-tempo ("Enthrone the God of Blasphemy", the Motorhead-ish section on "Command"), but the rest is pure bashing madness, still intelligible although it goes well beyond the "exploits" of Impaled Nazarene, for example. There are only two guys behind this project, and they also keep themselves busy with two death metal outfits: Etagord with whom they had an album released in 2006, and Mandingazo where they are still on a demo stage.

Cult of Destruction Full-length, 2008
Demon Metal EP, 2010

PERVERSOR (ECUADOR)

Based on the full-length: classic-sounding thrash with a very good bass bottom; the guys manage to mix heavy slow with fast energetic sections on almost every track as the faster sections predominate coming with a touch of crossover/hardcore, a feeling further strenghtened by the expressive shouty vocals. Seldom does the music reach Slayer-esque aggression ("Mentiras"), usually moshing in up-tempo with direct simple riffs of the abrasive semi-noisy type.

Balmaseda EP, 2006
Esencia del Mal Full-length, 2009

PERVERTED SON (CHILE)

These are the same guys who earlier on released a couple of demos and an EP under the name Evil Offering. The sound here is more technical, bordering on progressive, the tracks are longer, and the guitars twist and turn into quite a few directions: check out the meandering serpent-like "Partial Truth". "Lost Essence" scores even higher, being exemplary technical/progressive thrash, still thrashing quite intensely at times. Generally the band tries to add more aggressive riffage into the complex song-structures, and consequently the music never gets lost into too much technical show-off. "To The Abstract" is for the more level-headed, being a bit more direct technical thrasher with a nice jazzy break. "Desert" is a short 1-min acoustic instrumental, followed by another dynamic technical thrasher: "Return To The Unconcious", which mixes fast-paced riffs with some abstract ones to quite an impressive effect, recalling Voivod, Mekong Delta and Coroner; the end is minimalistic atmospheric doomy guitars: quite a stylish, unusual decision, but perfectly conformed with the less than ordinary nature of this very good effort.

To the Abstract Demo, 2006

PERZONAL WAR (GERMANY)

The modern answer to Metallica; from the vocals which are very close to James Hetfield, to the riffs which on the first two albums are closer to the old, 80's Metallica, the similarities are very big. The last three albums stick close to Metallica, too, but the sound has moved towards the Black Album, and has become more modernized and more melodic with some alternative passages; far less impressive than their early works.
"Bloodline" boasts a more aggressive, heavier sound, and is firmly in the classic thrash metal camp, finally showing the guys in a better light, thrashing with full force, although traces of Metallica are almost nowhere to be heard (except perhaps, for the nice semi-ballad "Dead Meaning", and the mighty riff- monster "Shred", which touches again the Black Album), but the music is more along the lines of more recent Kreator, spiced with some scattered alternative touches, which work quite well, embedded in the intense riffage. "Dying Race" is a pleasant deviation, a fine nod to mid-period Paradise Lost, with a good vocal performance, followed by the album highlight: the dark, brooding thrasher "New Confidence". The closing "Same Blood" is a cool ballad, a trade mark for the band. If these guys have been taken with something in mind, after this effort the number of the skeptics will be considerably decreased.

The Inside Full-length, 1998
Newtimechaos Full-length, 2000
Different But The Same Full-length, 2002
Faces Full-length, 2004
When Times Turn Red Full-length, 2005
Bloodline Full-Length, 2008

PESSIMIST (CZECH)

This act is a nice addition to the technical/progressive side of the thrash/death metal hybrid, in a way not too dissimilar to their compatriots Scenery. These guys here are more fusion-oriented coming close to Cynic as well, a tendency stretched into a few calm instrumentals (mostly on the debut). The music is mid-paced without any faster "temptations" except on very few occasions. So the headbangers will not be very delighted with these two albums, but fans of the more serious thought-out undercurrent of the genre will find a lot to like here. The complexity never reaches very abstract forms, and there are more direct rhythms to be heard, too. The band is still active although at present the guys pay more attention to their other formation Mindwork with which they give a more intense dynamic edge to their already very technical style, and the latter could be considered the better offfering by some.
The work with Mindwork is put on hold now, and here comes the new Pessimist offering. "Longaevus" will not disappoint fans of the previous two albums developing in a similar peaceful fashion, despite the desirable "detractions": the faster abstractism "Rad" in the spirit of Voivod and Coroner; the more aggressive shredder at the end ala Pestilence "Marast"; but the rest is complex pleasantly edgy stuff again "courting" Cynic, above all. The compositions are never too long, and have an individual "character" (sound), with the vocal participation not very big being of the semi-whispered throaty kind. This is by all means very well-executed music full of interesting progressive/technical surprises, but its surreal dreamy nature may not be to the regular thrash metal fan's taste.

Ignorace Full-length, 1998
Ke hvezdám Full-length, 2003
Longaevus Full-length, 2010

PESSIMIST (GERMANY)

Cool diverse thrash metal of the old school mixing fast and slow tracks both sides sounding convincing, although the speedsters kind of deliver better: "It's Time to Fuck (with Hate)", "Call to War", etc. The end is also worth mentioning coming in the form of a nice melodic thrash instrumental "Another Day in Mania" with very cool lead guitar work.

Call to War Full-length, 2010

PESTICIDE (BRAZIL)

The "Hellish Warfare" demo is only two songs of fast aggressive retro thrash courtesy of members of Violator and Slaver, among other musicians. The music here is a bit more extreme, the first being purely instrumental furious shred, the second boldly going into proto-death metal territories close to Necrodeath's "Fragments of Insanity" and early Massacra. The singer is a husky semi-death metal growler suiting very well the intense speedy music.

Veterans Of Death (Promo) Single, 2007
Hellish Warfare Demo, 2008
Corrosive Warfare Split, 2009

PESTILENCE (HOLLAND)

This legendary technical death metal band have started with excellent thrash metal- aggressive and fast, with slight technical moments, which later became the trade mark for the band, and distant death metal passages. "Malleus Maleficarum" opens the album in an aggressive, stylish way, with blistering technical guitars and aggressive vocal delivery, courtesy of the omnipresent Martin Van Drunen. "Parricide" thrashes with even more intensity, and already the thrash fan knows that this will be a perennial headbanging delight all the way. And this is exactly the case; "Chemo Therapy" suggests at the bigger technical potential of the band, later to find full realisation on the later releases. "Bacterial Surgery" is a thrashing masterpiece, where Van Drunen even tries to scream sky-high, and probably has found out that for the future he should try this only if his life depends on it. "Cycle Of Existence" is another ball of fury, a hint that the band might be one of the first to join the growing death metal legions from Europe. Seldom can a debut album sound so professionally executed; a masterpiece after which it is not so hard to come up with another similar one, like "Testimony of the Ancients".

Malleus Maleficarum Full-length, 1988

PESTILENCE (USA)

Well executed aggressive thrash similar to Sepultura's "Beneath the Remains" and Devastation's "Signs of Life"; the tempo is fast, the music is straight-forward without any technical hooks, but the sheer intensity of the material will keep you headbanging throughout the 4 tracks. Later the band changed their name to Horde of Torment where their style remained almost the same only acquiring slight hardcore tendencies.

Infected Demo, 1988

PETTYPEW (GERMANY)

This obscure German outfit acquit themselves with capable classic speed metal with a shade of thrash which starts with the imposing galloping piece "Immortal" which speeds up with ful force near the end. "Chatooga" represents the 90's speed/power metal movement down to the-T-, and "Child of Misery" is a crisp thrashy mid-pacer. "No Tomorrow" is faster, again of the happier variety, but "Coward" is just an ordinary power metal filler. Things don't get much better with the just a bit more dynamic "Diary of a Dying", but "Against the Stream Of Influence" is a major speedster ala Not Fragile and Killers (France) with more serious progressive tendencies the latter remaining for the next two tracks which are more moderate, mid-paced at best. The closing "Questions" is a letdown being a tender romantic ballad to which the gruff semi-clean vocals are not the best possible addition.

Against the Stream of Influence Full-Length, 1997

PHALANX (GERMANY)

Based on the debut, Phalanx play classic, semi-technical thrash somewhat akin to the Swiss Poltergeist (and more particularly, their debut). The tracks never get lost in technical wankery, but tend to lose their thrashy edge at times ("A Winter Day's Thought"), spiced with quiet balladic sections, but are very catchy aided by the good melodic vocal lines.
"Look Behind The Mask" starts quite promisingly, with the heavy retro thrasher "Silent Conselt"; the new singer has a deeper, emotional, semi-clean delivery, and things look bright. "Face The Facts" carries on in the same spirit, and the fans will be quite happy to discover another act of the 90's who have held true to the 80's traditions. "State of Mind" slows down being a heavy semi-ballad, but with "Yanus" the album picks up speed once again, and even excels in the lead department. "Scratch The Surface" is another major retro delight, but from there on the music takes an unexpectecd turn towards modern groove with "Why Speak?". "Remnants" is a very good ballad, where the singer shows what he is also capable of in the more melodic field. More groove later on, finished with the slightly faster, but less impressive, cover of Metallica's "Enter Sandman" (it's a Charleston mix, as the cover says, although the lovers of this very old music style will not find a lot to dance to). Still, more than half of the album is well above average, although it has little to do with the light-hearted speed/power/thrash metal approach of the debut.

. The Judas Touch Full-length, 1993
Look Behind The Mask Full-length, 1998

PHANTASM (RUSSIA)

This band play dark brooding thrash/death metal with elements of doom, sounding like a fusion of Benediction and early Celtic Frost, enriched with cool semi-technical guitars ala Morbid Angel. The tempo stays within the mid-range, but at times the guys speed up quite a bit, even adhering to blast- beats whenever necessary.

Keeper of Death Full-length, 1993

PHANTASM (USA)

This band was formed by Ron Mcgovney after he left Metallica. Unfortunately, unlike Dave Mustaine, he couldn't break it big despite the recruitment of the drum wizard Gene Hoglan and Katon W. Depena from Hirax on vocals. The style is actually not too distant from Hirax consisting of short speed/thrash outbursts, but is a bit more technical and aggressive. Looked like a beginning of a successful career, but...

Demo '84 Demo, 1984
Wreckage Demo, 1987
Wreckage Best of/Compilation, 2001

PHANTASMAGORIA (POLAND)

Based on the "Furiosis" demo, these guys play decent, aiming at the old school power/thrash. The final track is a somewhat dodgy version of Iron Maiden's smashing hit "Aces High". There is certainly a potential here, but it has to be displayed in a better way.

Furiosis Demo, 1999
Psychical Seeings Demo, 2003

PHANTOM CREW (USA)

This very obscure band plays awesome Bay Area thrash in the Testament, Exodus, Metallica- vein. For some mysterious reason, they never made it to the full-length album stage. Based on the "Thrashing Spree" compilation, their music was quite intense, featuring more aggressive thrashers ("All Saints' Day"), but the predominant pace is mid to up-tempo with sharp cutting guitars and stylish, but short leads. Some songs in the second half show that the band have acquired some of the modern tendencies, by adding groove, and reducing the cutting edge of the guitars ("Temptation", "Numb").

Phantom Crew Demo, 1989
Phantom Crew II Demo, 1991
Existence Demo, 1993
No Compromise Demo, 1994
A Visit From the Sewage Fairies EP, 1997
Still The Evil Stands Best of/Compilation, 2004
Thrashing Spree Best of/Compilation, 2005

PHANTOM WITCH (USA)

Based on the split with Taking Over, this young band pull out good speed/thrash, reminiscent of the early works of Razor (but this is better) and Slayer, with touches from the American power metal scene ("Dark Allegiance"). "Necromancer's Curse" is an aggressive speed/thrashing delight, which will also remind you of Rigor Mortis, whereas "Spellbound By Satan" is pure Slayer worship, done with style.

Phantom Witch EP, 2007
Taking Over vs Phantom Witch Split, 2008

PHARAONS (MADAGASCAR)

Three Ra's (Jean, Mamy, and Fidy; could be brothers) are behind this only thrash metal act from the African island, who are also fascinated by black metal, judging by the evil atmosphere permeating the album, recalling both Bathory and early Burzum (the blasting opus "The Dark Side Of The Fire War"). There are stretches towards the acoustic ballad ("Ny Tenimpolin'ny Fantasy Ratsy"), as well as a good pounding closer with doomy tendencies: "Nagasaki". The singer is a vicious semi-whisperer, strictly belonging to the black metal genre, but finding his way on the ballad to produce a more meaningful clean delivery.

Evil World Full-length, 1989

PHLEGETHON (FINLAND)

This is a recording with a very bad underground sound quality, under which one can distinguish twisted doomy thrash with Hellhammer a close soundalike. There are fast more intense sections which are pure death metal, but they meld into a wall of brutal guitars stifled by the gutural low-tuned vocalist who mostly grunts in a scary fashion.

Fresco Lungs EP, 1991

PHOBIC INSTINCT (GERMANY)

This is the next band with whom one of the legends of German thrash Mem Von Stein got involved with, after his exit from Exumer. This album was recorded in 1989, but it saw the light of day almost 20 years later. The style is not a direct continuation of "Possessed by Fire", but is potent and intense thrash/crossover, which on its best moments reaches towards Slayer's "Reign in Blood": on "Fatal Result", "Paranoic Stares", and most of the time the music is closer to thrash. The more crossover-based, jolly parts will definitely remind you of Suicidal Tendencies from around the same time ("Cop State"). The slower numbers are kind of awkward and unfocused ("Split Image"), sounding like pure hardcore. Stein's vocals are dirtier and lower-pitched, and that's good, because his apocalyptic high vocals could have sounded awkward here. "Plastic Brain" near the end recalls the bombastic speed/thrash of the Exumer debut, accompanied by the slightly higher vocal delivery of Stein, and is the best song. This solitary effort remained Stein's last flirtation with metal for a few years, until he had a one-album spell with another obscure, but much better act: Of Rytes.

A Second of Thought Full-length, 2008

PHONOMIK (DENMARK)

Modern power/thrash with progressive shades; the guys play with crushing heavy guitars which unfortunately never leave the mid-tempo ground, and at some point the listener may get tired of this consistent, but uneventful wall of heaviness, which "cracks" twice, not so well: on the melodic "sleeper" "Atmos-Fear"; and in a more reparable way: on the cool semi-ballad "Life Lies". The two bonus tracks at the end are not a very fine addition, both being melodic power metal compositions with balladic overtones. The singer sings well, though, and his steady clean mid-ranged tember has the necessary emotional colouring to carry the slightly one-dimensional music through.

Soul Creeper Full-length, 2010

PHOSPHORUS (CANADA)

Based on the self-titled demo, this is black/thrash with a crisp guitar sound and screechy black rasps serving for vocals; the music is up-tempo to very fast with the obligatory hyper-blasts frequently "bothering" the listener. The sound is more modern rubbing shoulders with more recent Dimmu Borgir.
"Crépuscule" is 4 tracks of the same black/thrash metal amalgam, this time going for more moderate thrashy breaks ("Hegemonie"), as well as more sprawling epic ("Cri de la Lumiere") nuances.

Phosphorus Demo, 2009
Cri De La Lumière Single, 2010
Crépuscule Demo, 2010

PHOSSATERY (BRAZIL)

Very well done aggressive thrash/death metal, sounding like a more brutal and faster version of Sepultura's "Beneath The Remains". This is fairly speedy stuff, also recalling Pestilence and Hellwitch; the guitars have a certain technical edge at times, but the concentration is clearly on speed, sometimes on the edge of falling apart, like on the insanely fast "For Whom It May Concern" and the 1.5-min outbreak "I'm Innocent", which is accompanied by super vicious screechy vocals (the main ones are typical death metal growls). "The Last Night" reduces the speed on most parts, and is a really good stomping thrasher with melodic lines. "Army of Tomorrow" follows a similar pattern, but the ultra-fast middle break will make your head spin. "Depression", the album closer, finally shows mercy being a much much slower doomy atmospheric piece.

Obscure Feelings Full-length, 1994

PHYSICAL ATTRACTION (SWEDEN)

The crossover opener "Stones Are Cold" is totally misleading, as later one would hear more serious, and much more aggressive music. The sound is classic, with very slight modern leanings, and the riffs are crushing, with a distinct technical edge at times. The tempo varies quite a bit, and the overall style recalls another one album wonder: Wrekking Machine and, respectively, Anthrax. The modern moments ("Life In Pain") are close to Flotsam & Jetsam and to a lesser extent, to Pantera. The crossover beginnings jump up here and there ("People With Power", "Someones Else's Words"), but are more intense and thrashy. "Master Of Disaster" opposes to the surrounding it faster-paced tracks, and introduces slower, pounding riffs and cool clean, background vocals.

The Fool Lead the Blind Full-Length, 1994

PICA FIERCE (NORWAY)

Another great technical metal act is rising up from Norway. These guys follow on the steps of their compatriots Scariot; based on the "A Spiral of Violence" demo, this is first rate technical thrash/death metal which is not too far from the first two Scariot albums. Smashing technical riffs and nice melodic guitar work will make your day. The vocals are similar to Scariot again, a mixture of rough death-ish and clean ones. The band have achieved a kind of a feat, performing a full heavy metal version of the opera "Faust" with the Kristiansund Symphonic orchestra in the Kristiansund Operahouse, with Nils K. Rue (Pagan's Mind) singing one of the main parts.
"Reptile" offers a much more straight-forward music: these are 3 songs of intense classic thrash (if we exclude some parts from "The Weight Of Condemnation" with a gothic/epic flavour), without any technical gimmicks, and is decidedly inferior to the preceding work.
The self-titled debut is finally out, and it was interesting to see which style the band would stick to. The surprise would be pleasant to both sides, since this is a seamless, perfectly executed blend of both the more technical, and more aggressive approach. The opener "Decadence" is the proof for that: an awesome technical thrasher, a great tribute to the mighty Chuck Schuldiner (R.I.P.). The technicality remains, but the speed disappears for the next "The Weight of Condemnation", which is something unexpected: a mid-paced steam-rolling piece, with some exemplary technical riffs. Back to some more intense thrashing, with "Reptile", which sounds as though directly taken from Death's "The Sound of Perseverance". And yes, Death is the most obvious influence here, although the complexity on some tracks goes beyond that: the superb progressive multi-layered "The Coming of The 4th World", boasting some of the finest guitar work around. The closing "A New Beginning" is the other elaborate affair, starting with a brilliant orchestral intro, before turning into a feast for the ears with its timeless melodic hooks and technical riffs, surrounded by a very strong keyboard background, and the most melodic deviation on the album at the end. "Swan Song" switches onto more aggressive thrash/death, with sinister guitars and some wonderful more laid-back main theme; the synthesized vocals could have been left out, though. "Spiral of Violence" is the other track, where death metal reigns supreme, offering a whirlwind of stunning technical riffs, and sudden jumping frantic tempo changes, not missing in the blast-beat department as well: a delight which the Canadian scene is yet to offer. "Urbania" is another masterpiece of up-tempo technical thrash, where the moshing goes on until the end, graced by brilliant guitar performance. "Consumers Consumed" will delight you with both its first-class technical shredding, and the nice catchy melodic chorus, an approach also applied to some other compositions throughout the album. There is no need to continue reviewing the rest of the songs on this incredible album: the finest thrash metal offering for the past 10 years to come out of Norway, along with the same year's Scariot's "Momentum Shift".

Urbania Demo, 2001
A Spiral of Violence Demo, 2002
Reptile Demo, 2004
Pica Fierce Full-length, 2007

PIECE DOGS (USA)

A typical for the early 90's power/thrash affair, hesitating between the classic and the modern sound; at times the music leaves the thrash field, and goes for some pop-metal, and even hard-rock-ish elements.

Exes for Eyes Full-length, 1992

PIGSKIN (SWITZERLAND)

Based on "The Never Ending Black", this act offers modern thrash metal with energetic guitars and several melo-death leanings. The band plays on in up-tempo mostly slowing down on the longer material in the middle ("The Rise Of Evil", "Return To The Chapel") where a few metalcore shades can be felt. The guys have a good sense of melody expressed in the stylish lead guitar work: check the excellent instrumental intro "Frisco Joe" as well as the more complex progressive closer "The Never Ending Black" the latter in its turn finished with a brilliant acoustic passage which will remind you of the opening moments from the Metallica instrumental "To Live is to Die".

Epidemic Full-length, 2003
Exposed to Threat Full-length, 2006
Noise Of The Broken Bones EP, 2008
The Never Ending Black Full-length, 2010

PIKE (SWEDEN)

90's post-thrash of the awful rubbish type; repulsive groove spiced with stoner/coom, ballad, alternative and other "atrocities" which had better be left unmentioned. The singer is moderately angry, and even tries to sound emotional on the more "romantic" moments which also come aplenty.

Lack of Judgement Full-length, 1996

PILEDRIVER (CANADA)

Piledriver is the main band of Gord Kirchin who was also responsible for Dogs With Jobs and Convict. With the help of Edward Pursino from Virgin Steele, he manages to create one of the legends of Canadian thrash. The debut is a cool, melodic affair, mixing classic heavy metal with thrash. The songs are catchy and memorable, topped by the characteristic vicious, semi-clean vocals of Kirchin. The complaint is that with the exception of the short energetic "Sodomize The Dead" and the more aggressive "Pile Driver", the other material flows in the same vein, mid-tempo to slow, reaching its culmination on the slightly boring and repetitive, 7-min long "Wutchunt". The album closer "Alien Rape" is even longer, but at least there is more variety, including some attempts at a faster play.
"Stay Ugly" is a much better effort, now a full-blooded speed/thrash metal affair, boasting intense, and very catchy numbers, like the speedy opener "The Incubus", the marvellous combination of speedy, galloping and stomping riffs "Chaos", the great galloping thrasher "Lords of Abomination", the sinister "Flowers of Evil", and every other one. Although here the pace is mostly fast and doesn't really slow down a lot, because of the relative short length of the songs and the sharp, energetic guitar work, this album is a very satisfying listen, with not a single dull moment. The band later transformed into Dogs With Jobs- another good band, but more melodic, with a more ordinary power/thrash metal sound.

Metal Inquisition Full-length, 1985
Stay Ugly Full-length, 1986

PILGRIMZ (DENMARK)

This album sounds like a remnant from the groovy 90's, and could well fit into the Machine Head catalogue of that time, if the Danes had added more up-tempo compositions ("Paramount" is the only intense thrasher, but still ruined by a groovy section). Now this mid-paced wall of modern riffs would hardly make a few heads turn nowadays, when there are hundreds of acts offering the same stuff.

Boar Riders Full-length, 2008

PILLAGE SUNDAY (USA)

Thrash/crossover close to Lawnmower Deth, maybe a bit heavier, and less enjoyable.

The Blitz Has Begun Demo, 1988

PILLOW KILLZ (GERMANY)

Based on the debut demo, this act plays quite cool speed/thrash of the more optimistic type which became quite popular a few years later, mixed with more aggressive riffs akin to Angel Dust's "Into the Dark Past". "Invited by the Circle" is vintage early Blind Guardian (the guitarist Christoph Theissen played with Hansi Kürsch and André Olbrich (Blind Guardian) in the pre-Guardian act Lucifer's Heritage), a fast and intense piece with a nice memorable chorus. "Frozen Desert" is a varied blend of power, speed and thrash metal with fine lead guitar work, and the 2-part opus "Loss of Manking" also scores high, the 1st part being pure speed metal to the bone, the 2nd one offering a wide amalgam of epic, power, thrash and speed metal with sprawling lead sections which kind of overshadow the riff-work. The singer is not bad with a clean mid-ranged tember who could have made things more appealing by adding a couple of higher-pitched antics.

The 3rd Prophecy Demo, 1990
More With Less Demo, 1992
Pillow Killz Best of/Compilation, 1994
Years Full-length, 1997
Sweet Pain Full-length, 1999

PIRANHA (GREECE)

Basen on 2-song single "Cancer", this trio play excellent dark gothic classic thrash, spiced with haunting keyboard melodies, which work fine with the sharp, up-tempo riffs and the harsh, death metal vocals. The "Worlds Grave" EP is in the same vein, boasting a better sound quality, and a more pounding punishing rhythm section. The tempo is quite energetic, never loosening even on the longer tracks ("Burn"), and the bass is really strong, overshadowing the guitars a bit at times. A nice keyboard background can be heard, well contrasting to the sharp riffs and the brutal death metal growls.

The Exorcist Demo, 1990
The Gate Demo, 1991
Worlds Grave EP, 1992
Cancer Single, 1993
Promo Tape Demo, 1998

PIRANHA (USA)

This band was formed by Paul Baloff (R.I.P.) after his exit from Exodus. The style is not too far from the Exodus debut album with Baloff giving his best behind the mike. His departure to pursue further glories in Heathen put an end to Piranha's existence. After things didn't work out in the Heathen camp, Baloff reformed the band, but either the lack of inspiration or interest left this stage of the band's career fruitless.

1988 Demo, 1988

PIRANA (MEXICO)

An interesting EP featuring some both classic and modern thrash as well as more intense death-like moments. The last track sounds as though directly taken from Paradise Lost's "Shades Of God". The debut full-length is a pleasant surprise seeing the guys thrashing their souls out producing pretty cool intense retro speed/thrash which starts "killing" from the get-go, with the instrumental intro "We will Bite Your Brain", which in its turn is followed by the blasting thrashing madness "Smoking with Hellstrom". So far, so great... Unfortunately later on the band take it easy, slowing down considerably for a couple of tracks, before "Black Spiral Dance" comes thrashing down, smashing everything in its way. This outbreak is not followed by another "pause" and the guys continue to blast out, with "God Killer", "Sodomist Pig" and "Aim and Fire". Some calmer numbers can be found near the end as well, but by that time the listener will be totally exhausted. With 13 tracks featured here one can not expect a constant assault from beginning to end, but this is not so far, with more than half the tracks belonging to the extreme, faster side of the genre, along the lines of Necrodeath, early Kreator, even Hellwitch.

Pirana Attack EP, 2005
Destructive Animal Revolution Full-length, 2008

PIRATES OF ACHERON (GERMANY)

The guys from Devil Lee Rot, minus the main man, entertain themselves (based on the "Soul Stealer" EP) playing modern thrash/death metal with pagan/epic shades which is not devoid of fast blitzkrieg numbers: "Intropication of Wrath", the speed metal hymn "Tobacco, Rum & Prostitutes", the potent blend of heavy and fast raging guitars "The Panic Cutchers". An obstacle can be considered the very thin buzzy guitar sound which overtakes the whole space leaving the forced death metal vocals hanging awkwardly merging with the chainsaw-like sound at times.

Chaos Flood EP, 2007
Soul Stealer EP, 2008
Warriors of Steel EP, 2009
Bestial Torments Full-length, 2010

PIROSAINT (CHILE)

This is an interesting band: on their only EP you can hear 90's aggro-thrash riffs ala Pantera mixed with quite technical ones plus more atmospheric moments where the lead guitar does a very good job. The music is mostly mid-paced with occasional up-tempo moments; quite well done recalling the style of the Andy LaRocque and Co.'s formation IllWill.

New God EP, 1997

PISSED OFF ORGASM (USA)

An ultimately raw industrialized mix of hardcore, thrash and grind, which most of the time is pure noise, and actually it's quite difficult to disitnguish anything apart from a heavily synthesized wall of noise sounding like Pitch Shifter partying with The Berzerker both acts having already reached the alcoholic delirium stage.

Porno Holocaust 1993-1996 Compilation, 2006

PISSING RAZORS (USA)

Pretty standard modern thrash metal along the lines of Pantera and Machine Head, with some industrial touches recalling Fear Factory and Puncture.

Psycho Punko Metal Groove Full-length, 1996
Pissing Razors Full-length, 1998
Cast Down The Plague Full-length, 1999
Fields of Disbelief Full-length, 2000
Where We Come From Full-length, 2001
Evolution Full-length, 2003

PISSMARK (AUSTRIA)

Modern hardcore-ish thrash which acquires playful stoner tendencies at times which don't serve quite right the consistently heavy riff wall. The other complaint comes from the pace which is constantly mid with solely "Der Frömmler" bringing forward more intense hedbanging tunes; "Todesboten" could also be mentioned in this vein offering a short blasting break. Surprisingly, the slowest song on the album: the closer "Schläfer", which is very appropriately titled, by the way ("the sleeper"), is the best one being a pure morose doomster partially ruined by the unsuitable semi-death metal vocals.

Der Frömmler Full-length, 2010

PIT (USA)

Modern heavy power/thrash metal with classic heavy metal tunes thrown in for good measure; the debut is more classically-inclined, and contains the better and faster material, whereas the follow-up concentrates fully on the modern groovy side of the genre, still featuring a few more pleasant surprises: the heavy semi-ballad "Forever at Once" and the retro headbanger "Boneheads", which even blast-beats for a while, partially ruined by the awful synthesized vocals.

Carnival Licence Full Length,1996
Boneheads Full-Length, 1997

PITBULL DIESEL (CZECH)

Modern thrash of the laid-back, metalcore type; this is choppy stuff with not very pleasant deathy vocals and jumpy rhythms, pretty bland as a whole. At the end there is a "Waltz Mit Kiske", but it doesn't become clear from the lyrics whether this is a nod to the former Helloween singer; the track is mellow and pleasant with echoes of Machine Head's mid-period, although it could hardly pass for a waltz.

Thank You And Sorry For The Blood Full-Length, 2011

PITCH BLACK (PORTUGAL)

With an album-title like this, you really have to be confident about the quality of your music. And Pitch Black don't disappoint, providing us with a decent slab of mostly classic thrash with various influences- Exodus, Sepultura (their early 90's period), Slayer, Defiance. The music is moderately fast, never speeding up too much, and as such offers cool thrashers ("Beheaded", "Divine Not Human", "Pitch Black", etc.). The guitars have a dry, mechanical sound, but the music is predominantly old school, with a modern production. This sound suits better the slower, stomping tracks: "Suffochate", but these are the moments when the band sound close to Prong. The vocals are also similar to the ones of Tommy Victor, sometimes sounding awfully industrialized.
"Hate Division" is more consistent, now thrashing in a sure-handed classic manner, with speedy sharp riffs in the Bay-Area and Slayer vein, very seldom slowing down, and when it does (the dark stomping "One Of Them") it sounds equally as convincing. The rest is heads-down thrash attack, and one more effort in the same spirit will do a lot to bring them closer to the "Thrash Metal Elite", like the title of one of the songs suggests. The singer this time is quite angry sharing some of the Phil Anselmo style, but also coming as a less intense death metal shouter.

Thrash Killing Machine Full-length, 2005
Hate Division Full-Length, 2009

PITCH BLACK (DENMARK)

Very good thrash/death metal of the modern type, quite energetic with technical leanings, which brings it close to late period Death at times. There are the typical blast-beats and clean vocals, but they are not annoying, and are used appropriately. Apart from the faster more technical numbers, one can hear slower softer moments ("Angelized", "Queen Of All Kings") with epic "decorations" as well as a great short acoustic instrumental ("A New Era"). When the guys decide to be merciless, they can rank among the best from the contemporary thrash/death metal scene: the speedy riff-fests "Satanic Majesty" and the closing "Heart Of Darkness".
"The Devilty" is a clear disappointment compared to the much more interesting debut. "Replacing God" is a confident opener with lashing fast semi-technical riffs with a couple of more intriguing quiet sections, but "Defriended" is already a groovy unimaginative filler after which two headbanging pieces ("You're Fucking Below Me" and "Don't Make Me Mad") follow suit, but that's about it. "One Day We'll Break 'Em" is a ballad, both heavy and tender, and from this moment on the guys indulge in boring tedious post-thrash sounding pretty close to the last few The Haunted albums. At least the forced shouty vocals suit those numbers...

Designed To Dislike Full-length, 2007
The Devilty Full-length, 2011

PITCH BLACK FORECAST

These guys pull out modern groovy post-thrash which nicely speeds up unexpectedly: the short headbanging number "Wrapped in Plastic", the longer half-groove/half-retro thrash "Lighthouse", and the slower, but still energetic "Ornament".

Absentee Full-Length, 2008

PITIFUL REIGN (UK)

Very good classic 80's thrash influenced by Slayer and Vio-lence, among others; the debut starts with the heavy up-tempo "Toxic Choke" featuring very heavy crushing riffs and a very good bass support. Later more aggressive faster tracks show up ("In The Pits") adding more energy which stays till the end, making this short (only 7 songs) affair a really good headbanging fest.
"Visual Violence" is another good retro thrash entertainment, again with nods to the Bay-Area school. The mixture resembles the one from the debut, alternating fast-paced with slower numbers, with both sides shaking hands admirably on the nice "Fatality". "Malevolence Of The Butcher" is something unexpected: a very good more complex composition, thrashing intensely for about 8-min, minus the cool more peaceful break in the middle. "Push To Prime" is relentless speed/thrash metal madness, the most aggressive track on the album.

24 Litre Killer EP, 2005
Toxic Choke Full-length, 2006
D.I.V.E EP, 2007
Visual Violence Full-length, 2008

PITONI (SLOVENIA)

Based on the first demo, this band play an interesting kind of thrash/crossover, heavy groovy with more aggressive lower-pitched hardcore vocals (some semi-rap ones also involved). At times the music might remind you of the last Xentrix album, but Pitoni vary things more by including atmospheric, progressively-tinged passages as well as other non-metal instruments (pipes on "Paranoia": a nice touch). Despite the very varied nature of this recording, it certainly contains enough smashing thrashy riffs to keep fans of the genre interested.

World Around Me Demo, 1997
Kdo Je Bogu Bog? Demo, 2003
Core9 (Korenine) Demo, 2003

PIXIE KILLERS (DENMARK)

One of the best thrash metal album to come out of Denmark; their name will call many other music genres to mind, but not metal. And that's a pity, because apparently this is the main reason why this band remained in the shadow of Invocator, Artillery, etc. In terms of musicianship these guys are by no means worse than those bands, and are actually better on a few moments. The music is awesome thrash which draws comparisons to early Testament, Anthrax, late period Helstar, and... Artillery (the technical guitar work at times). One can find straight aggressive headbangers: "I Recall Evil", but the concentration is on the heavier, more technical side of the music, and songs like "Conscience" and the magnificent closer "Poottah" could be very well fitting even on masterpieces like Helstar's "Nosferatu" or Testament's "The Legacy". The pace is quite energetic, and only gets lost for a while on the very good semi-ballad "Strubesnittersangen (Throatcuttersong)". The singer sounds quite close to Helstar's James Rivera, maybe a little lower- pitched.

One Size Fits All Full-length, 1993

PLACENTA (GERMANY)

Based on "Fixed Action Pattern", this act pulls out heavy steam-roller thrash/death metal of the modern type, spiced with quite a few uncontrolled blasting passages and more intense Swedish moments, but the groove is present all over although it is more dynamic except on the moments when it descends to pure metalcore. The vocal "duel" is really bad, though, seeing very brutal low-tuned growls mixed with very screechy hysterial shouts; a widely spread gimmick nowadays, but in this case this is hardly the best example of how it should be done.

Human Abyss Full-length, 2007
Fixed Action Pattern Full-length, 2009
Brutalis EP, 2010

PLAGUE ALLEGIANCE (USA)

Excellent riff-oriented classic thrash metal; fast and aggressive, with an obvious Slayer and Devastation-vibe. The vocals are more melodic, bearing resemblance to Joey Belladonna. After the short aggressive opener comes a heavier, longer track ("101 ways to Die"), which slows down considerably, but the speed returns with the explosive "Pain Remains the Same", and never leaves again. The closing track "Things in the Wall" sneaks more technical moments, but the very aggressive riffage stifles it.

Demo Demo, 1990

PLAGUE WARHEAD (SWEDEN)

The band's line-up features Mr. Benny Larsson: the drum authority who has graced with his presence renowned acts like Edge of Sanity, Godsend, Ophthalamia, Pan.Thy.Monium, etc. The concentration here is more on the classic thrash/death blend, though, with rough, but intelligible, vocals strictly belonging to the death metal genre. The music rips with hard, sharp riffs which inevitably remind of the early Swedish death metal heritage (Unleashed, Entombed, early Cemetary, etc.). The guys play fast with no remorse, resulting in a crisp, invigorating sound which cries out for a longer release.

Whores Of Lucifer EP, 2011

PLAGUE OF SHEOUL (USA)

This band are another pretender for the new At The Gates. Here the music is more of a thrash/death metal combination, and is quite fast with frequent adherence to blast-beats. The sheer brutality actually nicely contrasts to the melodic guitar lines, and almost every track has a thrashy mid-break.

Spoken Into Existence Demo, 2006

PLAN 4 (ARGENTINA)

Based on "Dos Caras", this band pulls out 90's groovy post-thrash which changes the approach, sounding both faster and more intense, and mellower balladic at different times. The music is not stale, and moves around, although this is hardly anything that hasn't been heard so many times before.
"En Mil Pedazos" is the traditional for the band heavy groovy affair, this time more one-dimensional and less interesting, if we exclude the cool energizer "Odio (Tiempos Violentos)", which also contains genuine doomy riffs at the end; and the vidorous galloping closer "Euphoria" which is vintage retro thrash at some point.

Plan 4 EP, 2004
Cambio De Piel Full-length, 2005
Dos Caras Full-length, 2007
EXTRACHAOS VOL. 1 Full-length, 2008
En Mil Pedazos Full-length 2010

PLANET HATE (USA)

This band coud be considered the continuation of the excellent short-lived thrashers Dead On, but don't expect the interesting sophisticated thrash of the latter here: this is pretty pedestrian modern post-thrash, diverse and dynamic, but the diversity leads it too often outside the confines of the genre the guys experimenting with numerous other influences (funk, grunge, etc.) among which the only ones worth a listen are the couple of heavy doomy tracks in the middle where the sound comes close to Flotsam & Jetsam's "Quatro".

Mother Are You Mad? Full-length, 1994

PLEASE DISRUPT (INDIA)

The noisy guitar background is utterlyu annoying, not helping much the awful death metal grunter, who serves as a vocalist. Otherwise music-wise this is modern thrash with gothic and balladic overtones, the former particularly well expressed on the several short lead-driven instrumentals, which are a good touch, and even overshadow the actual songs, which offer nothing that hasn't been heard plenty of times before.

Verge of Death EP, 2009

PLECTOR (SWEDEN)

Modern thrash/death metal with brutal low-tuned vocals; the guitar work is fairly cool with jumpy riffs involved at times ("Destroy You"), but there is groove present as well. The more attractive side are definitely the up-tempo thrashing pieces, like "Get Drunk Or Die Trying".
"Dark & Spiteful" continues the tendencies from the EP relying more on fast rhythms, and as such creates quite a few headbanging opportunities, at times even crossing over the border of good behaviour (the grinding section on "Embrace Our Shit"). No surprises here, as the approach is safely oriented towards the already established patterns.

Suppressed Aggression EP, 2008
Dark & Spiteful Full-length, 2009

PLEUROSIS (SPAIN)

The full-length shows a band treading the line between hardcore and thrash, and as such is more prone to display its brutal side, resulting in a considerable number of short aggressive bombs, going well over the Wehrmacht intensity. On the other hand, the longer songs which are not that many, are heavy and modern-sounding with heavy groovy riffs. On the shortest material the sound becomes no-bars-held grind, although the singer on those sings in the same gruff low-tuned way. The guys have tried their hands on more classic-sounding thrash with their other formation Convulsion-A.T.

Nopresion / Pleurosis / Aspid Split, 1993
No Mas Nuclear Full-length, 1993

PLUNDER & PILLAGE (USA)

These are the same guys who also take part in two other bands: Bound for Glory, and Before God. Based on "Desolate", this band play a style close to the hardcore-tinged one of Bound for Glory. The music has its more energetic, thrashy momets ("Fry Mumia"), but often does it degenerate to dragging groove ("Unscarred", "The Liar", "Desolate). A cool touch is the couple of jolly, punk-ish numbers ("Live, Die, Understand", "Forceful Salutation"), which lift up the mood.

Lights Out Full-length, 1999
Desolate Full-length, 2001

PNEUMA (COSTA RICA)

These Costa Ricans serve progressive power/doom metal with harsher proto-thrashy moments. The music is heavy and seismic with very cool clean emotional vocals which score high from the very beginning on the steam-rolling opener "Descend", which is followed by the slower doom-laden "Dementia" the later translating its heaviness on the following more dynamic "Ancient Times". "Then came the killing" with "The Killing", a heavy ambitious 8-min progressive opus with operatic and balladic overtones, slowing the album down considerably. More edge comes on "Betrayal Speaks of Rage", but all gets lost once again on another exercise in ponderous heaviness "Residual Experiences", this time better done despite the slightly overlong spacey balladic mid-break, compensated by a cool fast-paced thrashy section at the end. "Neuma" could be considered the ballad here (although at least half of the songs can compete with it for the title) with cool melodic arrangements and harsher scary vocal tones which serve well to increase the dramatism. But this is not the end: it comes as a monstrous 11-min long instrumental composition, quite a treat with loads of moods and rhythms still sticking mostly to the doom side with sprawling lead sections, but overall not bad at all also thrashing harder here and there, finished with a haunting acoustic outro. Fans of doom will be quite happy with this one, but any other metal fan should also give this nice release a try, just to see how contrasting genres can co-exist well together.

A Run Through Full-length, 2004

POINT-BLANK (FINLAND)

Based on the "Execution" demo, this act offers classic thrash/death metal with a very brutal death metal vocal delivery. The songs are heavy in mid-pace with the casual more intriguing hook ("While You Bleed", the excellent jumpy "Harvest of Death"), and some variety in the music department could have been offered. Still, this is competent stuff, professionally done, with a sharp guitar sound and a good sense of melody.

Gatling Gun Manifest Demo, 2007
Execution Demo, 2009

POINT BLANK (USA)

Thrash/crossover quite similar to early Suicidal Tendencies, or more melodic D.R.I., finished with a jolly hardcore cover of Deep Purple's "Smoke on the Water".

Point Blank EP, 1990

POINT OF EXISTENCE (SWEDEN)

The T.A.R. members have woken up for another temptation, this time under this name. Based on the very elaborately-titled (pun intended) full-length, the guys are ready to continue the damage in a more complex progressive power/thrash metal way, starting with the encompassing "Black Gold": 10.5-min of diverse music jumping from dark doomy riffs to fierce headbanging passages and vice versa all this surrounded by some of the finest Oriental tunes on the contemporary metal scene; despite the wide gamut of moods and tempos this song will by all means please the listener. The latter will arguably be happy to hear more immediate stuff on "Falling Down" which is a bit more than the modern power/thrash played by numerous acts around (Morgana Lefay, for example) with a slight technical twist. "LOL" follows a similar path, but is too incoherent and jumpy, also marred by the synthesized blend the vocals take; those vocals are not bad, actually, the same ones encountered on the T.A.R. delivered by Torbjörn Sandberg. Things get more dynamic on "King of Sin" which is a decidedly more aggressive offering with brutal death metal riffs inserted. "Bethany" is cool jumpy technical thrash keeping the speed to an extent which also translates well on the nice epic thrasher "Mortal Illusions", before the closer "What's Next" wraps it up in an unexpected doomy manner ala 90's Candlemass and Abstrakt Algebra lasting for nearly 9-min, with an even more surprising faster "revelation" near the end.
To these ears the T.A.R. material sounds more appealing staying firmly being more consistent, also having a more individual, and respectively more coherent, face. The album here spreads too wide at times, either intending to leave the obvious Morgana Lefay influences behind, or to satisfy the musicians' desire to make their music as complex as possible. It certainly has its moments, but it will take several listens for one to fully appreciate it. And still he/she has to have ears for those contrasting mixtures with the sudden switches between genres which quite a few modern acts try to implement more or less successfully; in this case the latter are rather on the positive side. And, let's not forget that probably there will be "02", "03", ... there will be plenty of time for smoothing out the flaws...

EP1 EP, 2006
0 1 Full-length, 2009

POISON (GERMANY)

After a long line of demos (the first ones contain some of the rawest-sounding metal ever recorded) dating back from 1984, this band finally made it to the official release stage with this one. The improvement over the demos is obvious, but the sound still remains raw, noisy, brutal and primitive. This is mostly black/thrash with touches of doom and even power metal with influences coming from Celtic Frost, Bathory, Bulldozer, among others; a cult release, if we ignore the almost complete lack of any musical merits.

Into The Abyss Full-length, 1993

POISON (JAPAN)

Based on the "Hot Rod" EP, these guys offer energetic speed/thrash with nice melodic guitar work, and gruff undeveloped dirty vocals, which surprisingly come up with cool melodic lines from time to time. There is a certain crossover vibe in the delivery, but pieces like the smashing "Combat" thrash with conviction and power. "Kill and Killers" is a good speed metal number with a nice punk-ish melodic break in the middle.

Doku EP, 1985
Hot Rod EP, 1986
Mystery Temptation EP, 1986
Hi-Energy Single, 1988
Kick Rock Full-length, 1988
Attack of 4 Tribes Split album, 1988
Game of Death Split album, 1989
One Hundred Dragon Full-length, 1989
Poison Arts Full-length, 1989
Rising Sun Full-length, 2008

POISON ASP (GERMANY)

The demo is pure speed metal, quite well done, not too far from early Helloween and Vectom. The EP is truly a revelation, featuring some awesome thrash; the tempo is not that fast anymore, and the guitars are considerably more technical, calling to mind the Swiss Apocalypse's debut and early Megadeth.

Schizoid Nightmares Demo, 1987
Beyond the Walls of Sleep EP, 1990

POISONDEATH (PERU)

Retro thrash metal ala early Whiplash and Rigor Mortis; this is fast energetic stuff with not very convincing vocal performance which can be barely heard because of the boosted guitar sound which in its turn disappoints on the lead sections where the guitars are too thin. The guys spare no speed, though, moving the approach close to proto-death at times (the furious tribute to early Death "Metal Inquisition", which is not a Piledriver cover), and with a better sound things could reach much further: there's definitely a potential here...

Poison Metal Demo, 2010

POISONGOD (BRAZIL)

PoisonGod offer a sound similar to the one of quite a few of their compatriots, in other words classic Germanic thrash reminiscent of early Destruction, with touches of the Bay Area scene. The music is actually quite good, and nicely moves from heavy, slower tracks ("Bullets") to really cool headbangers ("Genesis Protocol"). Somewhere in the middle you might get startled by the sudden outburst of aggression, coming from "Daemoncracy": a more death metal-based song with a strong nod to Death; a very good number with nice leads and sharp riffs. No more surprises till the end, as the rest returns to the retro thrash metal formula, but staying on a more intense level.

Daemoncracy Full-length, 2007

POLICE BASTARD (UK)

Classic-sounding thrashcore in the middle of the 90's is something rare, but these Brits manage to pull it out moshing in a mid to up-tempo with simplistic guitars and harsh quarrelsome vocals. The vogue of the times takes its toll on a couple of heavy proto-modern moments, but most of the time the music doesn't stray too much from the path carved by veterans from the 80's British thrashcore school like The Exploited, Concrete Sox and early Hellbastard.

Traumatized Full-Length, 1995

POLLUTED (FINLAND)

Cool Slayer-influenced thrash metal; good vicious riffs aplenty and solos from the chaotic Kerry King-type.

Nuclear Threat Demo, 2004

POLLUTION (SERBIA)

An excellent demo of hard-hitting speedy retro thrash metal which opens with the smashing instrumental "Absolute Pollution" (the guys care a lot about our environment, and that can only be a good thing) in the best tradition of Paradox and early Angel Dust. The attack continues on the equally as intense and fast "Manic Depression". "Violator" is a headbanging fest at its best, with the riffs now coming close to early Destruction, cutting like a knife, a feeling helped by the good sound quality of the recording. "Our Way" is the last speed/thrash hammer here, the shortest one, more speed metal-based, with a nice catchy chorus and good melodic hooks. This very promising beginning will hopefully not remain the band's only legacy.

The EP is another 4-song portion of classic speed/thrash, which doesn't betray the high quality from the demos, coming with a very clear sound. All the tracks are intense, in up-tempo, introducing the odd heavy mid-section ("Ruined Planet"), or pleasantly surprising with cool melodic leads ("Deceiver"), bringing the wind of power/speed metal with it for a while.
As expected, "Modern Warfare" is built around the songs from the preceding EP and the debut demo, starting with the brisk retro thrasher "Black River". Things only get better later on, with the early Destruction worshipper "Devil's Henchman" and the excellent melodic speed/thrashing instrumental "Absolute Pollution", already familiar from the demo. "Ruined Planet" nicely mixes heavy pounding rhythms with fast Germanic riffs, before "Manic Depression", another already heard on the demo track, switches onto full-blooded classic speed/thrash ala Toxic Shock and Exumer's debut. This tendency remains until the end which comes in the form of the nice blitzkrieg speed/thrasher "Open The Void" which would stand proud even on the Angel Dust debut.

Our Way Demo, 2008
Deadly Pollution Split, 2008
Massive Overload EP, 2009
Modern Warfare Full-length, 2010

POLTERGEIST (SWITZERLAND)

One of the few, but high quality Swiss thrash metal bands; "Depression" is a very good effort of 80's speed/thrash of a more ordinary nature, compared to the works of their compatriots (Celtic Frost, Coroner, Apocalypse). It still thrashes hard, with conviction ("Three Hills", "Depression"), sounding no worse than Paradox (decidedly better than their debut, but nos as impressive as "Heresy"), combining speed and thrash in a more conventional, but quite enjoyable way. The bass work is particularly strong on this one.
Then their singer Andre Grieder went to replace Marcel ``Schmier`` in Destruction for the recording of "Cracked Brain", but it was only a one-album spell. With his return from Germany, he must have brought some of the technical greatness of this album, because "Behind My Mask" is first-class technical speed/thrash, the band's finest hour. The pace is quite energetic, but the guitars are much more technical and sharp. This time the guys sound almost as convincing as Paradox on "Heresy", the similarity with this album coming also from the memorable choruses. There is an improvement in the lead department, although the increased technicality in the guitar sound leaves little room for the bass. "Grave" is an interesting track, starting in a more aggressive, faster manner, but in the middle it becomes more experimental with funky passages added, before it moves to a quiet balladic ending. "Chato's Land" is another more peaceful track, slower and more melodic. The closing song "Drifting Away" follows a similar pattern, but at this point the listener has already received his requisite doze of invigorating headbanging thrash.

On "Nothing Lasts Forever" the band adopts a more melodic power/thrash metal sound with longer more complex songs of a more progressive nature. The opener "Only You Remain" will be a shock to those who would expect another high-octane, technically-charged speed/thrash; it's melodic atmospheric power metal with a nice chorus. "Empty Inside" is much more aggressive and thrashier, but the guitars are not that sharp. Later more complex, longer songs take turns with faster speed/thrashers, but numbers like the acoustic ballad "Never Again", the progressively-tinged "You've Seen Your Future", and the American power metal-influenced "Darken My Mind" show that the band has moved on broadening their horizon. It still has its appeal to the thrash metal fanbase, and is more than a worthy exit from the scene, compared to the transformations which other bands experienced during the 90's.

Depression Full-length, 1989
Behind My Mask Full-length, 1991
Nothing Lasts Forever Full-length, 1994

Vibrations of Doom

POLTERKRIST (SWEDEN)

The "The Death Cell" demo offers whole 9 songs of very good retro thrash, aggressive and fast, with the obligatory borrowings from death metal. The approach is direct, with speedy and sharp riffs, and will probably remind you of Slayer's "Reign in Blood" (check out the short merciless outburst "Blizzard"!), or Atomica's "Disturbing the Noise", maybe a tad more melodic, with one fine tribute to the speed/thrash metal scene ("Cyanide Attack"), reminiscent of their compatriots Cranium. With 5 demos released already, it's a wonder that noone has showed any interest in signing this very talented young act.

Cold Lazarus Demo, 2000
Killed With Domination Demo, 2001
Stabs You In The Back Demo, 2002
The Death Cell Demo, 2003
Force Of Evil Demo, 2004

POLYDRONE (HOLLAND)

This EP offers modern alternative thrash with a few more aggressive classic moments. Not bad, quite dynamic and jumpy, with a headbanging potential on more than just a few moments, although the clean alternative vocals, which are supposed to be just "assisting", are much better than the shouty semi-death/semi- hardcore ones. The guitar sound is sharp, and the riffs meander creating a cool semi-technical picture ably supported by the straight hard-hitting passages.

/2 EP, 2009

POLYMETAL (CZECH)

Based on the "Trash¦N¦Roll" demo, this band offer what they promise: melodic speed/thrash with a rock'n roll edge, but this is more intense stuff than the Motorhead, or Exciter works, albeit not much more. There are clear shades of the already formed at that time 90's speed/power metal scene, mainly expressed in the infectious catchy choruses, and the cool ballad with the very aggressive name "Agresor". The sound quality is a bit muddy, but it can not stand on the way of the good melodic leads.

Hazardnf hrßF Demo, 1989
Ve znamenf k°fPe Demo, 1992
Trash¦N¦Roll Demo, 1994
Live 95 Demo, 1995
Rodnej hrob Full-length, 1995
Polymetal 96 Full-length, 1996

PONT OF REINDEER (RUSSIA)

These Russians pull out pretty decent melodic retro thrash with sparce modern leanings. The guys thrash fast'n tight, and the melodic hooks make some sections addictive to listen to. More intense thrashing can be heard on occasion ("Pro Lubov"), but again, those memorable melodic tunes, which hit the top on the excellent melancholic semi-ballad "Pro Odinochestvo". "Litium" is an awesome galloper with hard-hitting riffs galore, and "Vne Stada" is a great melodic thrasher with brilliant keyboard implements, which can also be heard on a couple of other pieces, and creates an appropriate orchetral atmosphere. The melodic guitars here are very characteristic, without taking even a bit away from the music's sharpness, giving the band's style a nice individual edge. The singer may be considered a pullback with his mid-levelled, indifferent semi-chants. A slight annoyance may be the short peaceful cuts, sometimes accompanied by narratives, which are inserted between the songs, seldom exceeding 30-40sec.
The debut demo sees the band already having established their staple style, being a potent mix of melodic keyboard-infused pieces and more direct thrashing cuts. The proudction quality is a bit muddy, and the singer awkwardly switches to bad deathy growls from time to time.
"Evil Begets Evil" is a much more polished affair, the guys thrashing with finesse and style, the opening "VEkspression v Ad" being a forceful piece in a dramatic up-tempo. The aggression remains throughout, this effort more mosh-oriented and less melody-decorated. "Vkus Svezhei Krovi" brings the "winds of melody" with more retouched guitars and very cool female vocals. "Krovit davit Unichtojat" is an awkward groovy filler, but the attack continues with "Evil Begets Evil" and especially with the short Slayer-worship "Oligarh". Slower, laid-back power/thrash rhythms overtake the space on "Fear", which is pleasant and radio-friendly, the friendliness disappearing for the intense thrashing "Teni Bogov", which grows into a less controlled hyper-blasing black metal break near the middle, plus a cool melodic distraction recalling Falco's "Amadeus" with a gothic "dressing". The closer "Diavol Pomnit O tebe" is another compelling blend of melody and dynamics, the perfect "marriage" of thrash and gothic, done on a consistent dramatic mid-pace. This album is almost as good as the following one, making the best use of several styles, without messing it up.

Pont of Reindeer Demo, 2009
Evil Begets Evil Full-Length, 2010
National Opposition Full-Length, 2011

PONTIUS PROPHET (USA)

This band is the continuation of Agent Steel, with three of the band members of the legendary speed/thrashers having moved here (previously the same line-up tried something more complex and progressive under the name Black Reign, with one demo released in 1990 ("Legion")), and this 2-song demo follows the same direction of excellent speed/thrash metal with John Cyriis' (here taking the pseudonim Father Damien) wailing vocals in top form, as always. Unfortunately, things didn't work out again, and the band members scattered in various directions (the drummer Chuck Profus re-joined his former colleagues from Agent Steel for the new project Obscene Gesture) leaving just a small trace on the field.

Rites of Hatred Demo, 1988

POPULATION CONTROL (USA)

Fast intense thrashcore quite close to the early efforts of Prong and the Madball debut seldom acquiring more extreme grindy tendencies. This is angry simplistic stuff with short tracks and hoarse shouty vocals.

Never Sober EP, 2010

POPULATION REDUCTION (USA)

Based on the EP, this is a blend of thrash, death metal and grindcore, which is becoming more and more popular these days; furious music, represented by short explosive tracks, but there is a fair amount of thrashy riffage involved, too. The full-length bears no surprises, blasting out in a similar fashion, with a more thrashy edge this time, and slightly longer tracks.

At The Throats of Man Forever EP, 2005
Each Birth A New Disaster Full-length, 2008

PORCELAIN GOD (USA)

Based on "Overflow", this band provides vintage retro power/speed/thrash which starts quite promisingly with the excellent speed/thrasher "Firing Away" which "fires away" a riff after riff with the utmost intensity. "Like a Machine" is a more moderate power metal number, but the following "My Liver is a River" welcomes you with more vigorous thrashing. "The Worm" is 7-min of milder power/thrash in mid-tempo which styas around for a string of tracks, until the arrival of the edgy speedster "Brief Description of Life", the last piece to bang the head since the remaining 2 numbers slow down again, despite the heavy guitar sound. the singer is not really an asset with his drunken semi-clean blend which doesn't change a bit throughout.

Overflow Full-length 1993
Opinion Full-length 1996

PORFIRIA (LITHUANIA)

Raw retro thrash metal with really brutal unpleasant death metal rendings serving as the vocal parts, an unpolished echo of Jan-Chris De Koeijer (Gorefest). If it wasn't for the awful sound quality, which is especially horrible on the last two live tracks, one could have enjoyed this stuff more since the music makes sense at times coming close to the aggressive delivery of Slayer and Devastation.

Porfiria Demo, 1991

PORNUCOPIA (USA)

3 songs made by guys led by the guitar stalwart Ira Black (Lizzy Borden, Vicious Rumours, Heathen, etc.). Ira is in good shape, but the others betray him, since apart from the stylish guitar performance tehre si not much else to be enjoyed. The bad sound quality and the bad semi-shouty vocals are a major detraction from this intense take on the classic thrash idea, which has shades of Slayer and Evildead, also trying something more technical on the jumpy funkage "Death Or Jail"; but should have stuck to their more bashing side, since this piece is quite flawed, the heavy guitar sound not matching the more complex pretensions. A forgettable fare as a whole, seeing Black later joining the post-thrash one-album-wonder Bralalalala, before coming up with his own act Doom Society, also taking part at present in the German power metal outfit Consfearacy.

Demo Demo, 1995

PORTA INFERI (GERMANY)

A modern mix of thrash and death metal, both intense and atmospheric, with frequent blast-beats of the hyper, black metal, variety. Death metal leads the pack all over leaving room for black metal on the good progressive Emperor-like closer "The Battue"; and generally thrash metal is just a humble assistant with not much work to do.

Guillotine Full-length 2010

PORTALL (HOLLAND)

Based on "In The Absence Of Light" demo, Portall play heavy groovy post-thrash with cool melodic lead guitar.

First Demo Demo, 2003
Second demo Demo, 2003
In The Absence Of Light Demo, 2005

POSEIDON (GERMANY)

A cool 3-song EP of classic German speed/thrash metal along the lines of Vectom and Toxic Shock; the guys interestingly mix straight classic heavy metal sections with furious speed/thrash ones which, surprisingly, sound quite cool. This mixture repeats on each of the 3 tracks, only failing to achieve the desired result on the last one: "Violence" which, despite its violent title, is the softest piece here sounding like early Vectom, and another German act from the same time: Steeler; it still carries the speed/thrash spirit, but the softer heavy metal sections on this one seem to dominate.

The Final Gate EP, 1989

Vibrations of Doom

POSER DISPOSER (CANADA)

Based on the first EP: vicious, aggressive thrash/crossover with some brutal grind-core attacks and an interesting speed/power-like chorus on "Seagulls".

You don't Count EP, 2003
Victims of a Bong Raid EP, 2006
Waiting to Inhale Full-length, 2006

POSGUERRA (COLOMBIA)

Based on "Amazonas", these guys pull out thrash/crossover of the more classic variety which hesitates between all-out thrash assaults ("Posguerra", "Hecatombe"), where they manage to capture the intensity of their neighbours Ratos de Porao, and jolly punk-ish joys ("Fla"). "Amazonas" is a cool mid-paced melodic instrumental with strong bass performance; on the other extreme we have "Crapulas" near the end: a wild proto-death atrocity.

Homo Sapiens: Detractor por Profesi=n Full-length, 1998
Amazonas Full-length, 2004
Planeta 3 Full-length, 2007

POSSESSED (USA)

An essential band in metal history, mainly for their debut which is largely considered the first real death metal album (to these ears mostly based on the vicious vocals, a style which was later picked by Chuck Schuldiner for the first couple of Death albums, rather than the music), and not only because of the closer which gave the name of the whole genre. And, indeed, with its raw, primitive, aggressive sound "Seven Churches" has definitely been an influence on the death metal movement. Starting with the main theme from the Exorcist movie, the opener is a brutal slab of thrash, and the rest is not far behind, ranging from all-out intelligible bashing ("Burning in Hell", and most of the tracks) to a more controlled early Venom-esque ("Evil warriors", "Holy Hell") delivery. "Twisted Minds" nicely blends the two approaches, producing 5-min of really good varied thrash. The aforementioned "Death Metal", which is also the closer, deserves its title, finishing the album in an intense aggressive manner.
"Beyond the Gates" has a more accessible and more variable sound, but is quite good, too. It actually has bigger musical merits than the debut, with more proficient guitar work, and a more controlled tempo. Some tracks even sound genuinely technical ("Beyond the Gates", the diverse 7-min semi-technicaller "No Will to Live"), others are straight taken from the debut ("March to Die", "Restless Dead"), others are milder, with a touch of speed metal ("Phantasm", the furious speed/thrash metal killers "Seance" and "Tribulation").
With "The Eyes Of Horror" (produced by Joe Satriani) the band took a slightly more ambitious step, which was expected considering the more complex approach taken on the predecessor, towards guitar-driven, semi-technical thrash which could have been elaborated on on at least one more effort. The opener "Confessions" thrashes with no mercy, and is the most direct number. "My Belief" doesn't differ from it a lot, but "The Eyes of Horror", which retains the speed, adds a nice technical edge in the guitar department. The trend continues on the following two numbers, and the tempo as a whole is quite fast-paced, making this small effort a nice companion piece to the previous one. There was clearly more potential to be revealed, but the band inexplicably disappeared, leaving this potential unrealized, which is really sad, since their thrash/proto-death hybrid could have secured them a place on the front row of metal in the late 80's/early 90's.

Seven Churches Full-length, 1985
Beyond the Gates Full-length, 1986
The Eyes of Horror EP, 1987
Ashes From Hell EP, 2006

POSSESSION (USA)

A decent mixture of thrash and death metal, based on "Eternally Haunt"; the vocals are particularly twisted ranging from unholy death growls to banshee-like screeches not too far from King Diamond. The music is fairly technical and intense, but there are songs which are longer and slower with a touch of doom, both sides mixed in almost equal dozes "The Return" sticking out with its stylish semi-technical decisions, with the excellent short 2.5-min lead-driven instrumental "Despair" a close second.

The "Scourge & Fire" EP is 3 songs of intense chaotic thrash/death metal with ultra-brutal shouty death vocals, the overall delivery coming as a lesser mid-period Carcass. The finale is interesting, though, a curious cover of King Diamond's "The Possession" from the legendary "Abigail", where good attempts at the King's famous falcetto are tried to good impressions (simlar ones were already used on the full-length to another positive effect), and are well more convincing than the brutal growls accompanying them; the music falls behind, however, with the guitar work being far behind the virtuoso brilliance of the Denner/LaRoque duo. The guys also have another project: the death/black metal corpse-painters Frost Like Ashes, and some of them had started their career under the name Heirborne, who survived long enough for the recording of one demo of similar intense thrash.

The Unnameable Suffering EP, 1993
Eternally Haunt Full-length, 1995
Scourge & Fire EP, 1997

POSSU-DO PELO C+O (BRAZIL)

This band is a side-project of Poney Ret (Violator). The demo title suggests some relations to the Possessed's ground-breaking debut, and, indeed, the sound has similarities to it, but it's more along the lines of some 80's thrash/crossover bands, but with a more aggressive, thrashy edge, often crossing the border towards Exodus and other Bay-Area acts. It might sound like an awkward mixture, but it's not: this is good headbanging stuff which will hopefully find its full realisation on an official release soon.
The full-length fulfills all the promises, thrashing with confidence and gusto. The approach is not too different from the demo: energetic speedy thrash/crossover, sometimes being pure thrash aggression ("Air Mail Surgery"), sometimes going over the thrash limits, into proto-death territory ("Catholic Beast"), and generally the sound is quite brutal and fast-paced, with tracks seldom exceeding the 1-1.5min limit. The only more laid-back number is the Attitude Adjustment cover "Grey World", but just a part of it.

Semen Churches Demo, 2006
Possessed to Circle Pit Full-Length, 2008

POST MORTEM (USA)

Based on the debut, this band have one of the most unconventional approaches to thrash metal. The music is mostly slow, doomy with a very abrasive, hardcore-ish, indifferent sound, with riffs which virtually go nowhere, and don't differ much from one song to the other, making the album sound as one very long track. This minimalistic approach might remind you of Amebix, but these guys are more impassionate, and much more patient going through this plodding listening experience. Albums like that stretch the genre too far, and those who prefer to stay within the confines of more standard music, should better leave this alone; on the other hand, some may find it a sheer genius. Their later works take a U-turn from thrash, and are an eclectic mixture of various styles: doom, psychedelic, hardcore, groove, sludge, and more.
The guys are surprisingly back with a brand new offering ("A Message From The Dead"), and this one sees them pulling out quite cool doomy Celtic Frost-like minimalistic thrash, which works on all levels, including in the vocal department where the singer growls in an intelligible black-ish manner; that same singer is their original one, John McCarthy (R.I.P.), who sadly passed away shortly before the recording sessions were finished, and the whole album is actually intended as a tribute to him. And quite a tribute, I would say, since the third track is a real "monster" being much faster and sinister. The next "Human Pinata" "embraces" the other pole: heavy classic doom in the best tradition of Saint Vitus and Count Raven. Doom metal reigns supreme on "Pray Before You Die", but "Field Trip" adds nice headbanging riffs to the morose slow picture, again with more nods to doom. Then "Never Rat" comes with a splash, thrashing like mad for a bit more than 1-min, followed by another piece of sorrow ("Babble On"). "A Happy Life" is your extreme thrash dream come true, but the end is strictly preserved for the doom fans, with two exemplary numbers of traditional doom metal mastery. As a whole this effort blends the two genres, giving more preferences to doom (and as such delivers no worse than the same year's Candlemass and Count Raven works), but it is miles ahead of their last two very insipid albums, and is more than a welcome return to form for one of the more eclectic left-hand-path representatives of the style.

Coroner's Office Full-length, 1986
The Missing Link EP, 1987
Festival Of Fun Full-length, 1991
Destined for Failure Full-length, 1993
A Message From The Dead Full-length, 2009

POST SCRIPTUM (RUSSIA)

Modern thrash/death metal, intense but also melodic, staying close to the Swedish patterns, seldom blasting out in a less controlled Floridian way. The songs are split into 2 kinds: those which are short, fast and even brutal, and those which are longer, more melodic, with a couple of cool catchy melodies.

Cocktail Full-Length, 2009

POSTMORTEM (ESTONIA)

Based on "Bloody Justice Comes": this band plays thrash/death metal with a classic edge. Some songs are more death metal-styled ("Mentally Insane"), coming with nice melodic hooks, whereas others are pure thrash pieces ("Souls Tyranny"), spiced with atmospheric slower sections. The best, however, comes from those mixing both styles, also served with more stylish guitar work: the heavy dark "Exile", or the faster technical, Pestilence-like "Prince of Darkness". "Farewell Melody" is a surprisingly melodic, but very cool, touch: atmospheric gothic-tinged instrumental. "Drowned in Dirt" is a masterpiece of technical thrash/death metal combined with slower, atmospheric, brooding tunes.

Bloody Justice Comes Full-length, 1996
The Call of the Sea Full-length, 1997
The Victory Day! Full-length, 2006

POSTMORTEM (SPAIN)

Based on the "Raw Survival" demo, these guys mix fast aggressive thrash, quite close to the Swedes Merciless' debut, and the French Massacra ("Questions") with heavy stomping songs (which are more): "Blood Angel". The mixtures of the two sides seem to work best: the nice more complex "Misery Empire". The excellent "Raw Survival" carries the death metal spirit, and is the most aggressive number here.

Raw Survival Demo, 1992
Renaissance Demo, 1994

POSTNUCLEAR DEATHMASS (GERMANY)

Death/thrash of the more classic variety with cool, but somewhat unfinished, progressive tendencies (the 8-min opus "Optimum Eradication"), but its headbanging appeal is clearly expressed on short intense numbers, like the up-tempo "Eine Romantische Und Grausame Brutalitat", ot the nice more melodic "Submit To Madness", which near the end all of a sudden bursts into brutal death metal, a trend continued on the next short 1-min bomb "Dr. Dan".

Generation Doom Full-length, 2004

POSTRIBULUM (ITALY)

This Italian trio must have been one of the most pristine rawest practitioners of the style from the Italian scene back in the late-80's; the music is amateurish black/thrash (this is very relative, folks), a not very distinct wall of sound topped by gruff death metal vocals which hardly sing rather than recite. There are timid attepmts at more intelligible lead parts, but they sound too isolated as though the other musicians have stopped to listen during those moments in wonder that at least one of them could manage something more sensible. The whole mess leaves the impression that there is only one person responsible for it... Still, considering the transition witnessed at the time towards more extreme genres, this effort shouldn't come as a complete surprise; and let's not forget that even much more renowned names have started their career in a similar fashion...

Rehearsal \'89 Demo, 2010

POSTWAR (BRAZIL)

This is heavy modern, mostly mid-paced thrash along the lines of the Danes Grope and Machine Head's early, more edgy period ("The More Things Change..."), but these guys are not strangers to some good Bay Area riffage ("Slave Your Sinful God", and elsewhere); apart from that this is cool crushingly heavy, bass-driven music.

Attack Demo, 2006

POTENTIAL THREAT (USA)

Based on the first 2-song demo, this is excellent fast-paced thrash metal akin to Vio-lence's "Eternal Nightmare" and Blessed Death's "Destined for Extinction".
"A New Threat Level" is a very uneven mix of classic and modern thrash, and fails to completely capture the magic of the demos. Although hailing from San Francisco, the guys' approach doesn't really represent the Bay-Area movement on a full-scale. The songs in the beginning are blends of fast and slow riffs, but the 2nd half is much weaker with all numbers being repetitive, strictly modern-sounding and mid-paced at best with only the final "Four Our Nation" bringing some life into the not very impressive picture.

Demo #1 Demo, 1988
Demo #2 Demo, 1990
Demo Demo, 2002
2.0 EP EP, 2005
A New Threat Level Full-length, 2009

POTHOLE (SOUTH AFRICA)

Based on "Showdown", these guys are typical representatives of the groovy heritage of the 90's. The problem is that the music lacks an edge, turning into post-thrash, hardcore, and even punk. Only will occasionally someone catch a heavier more aggressive riff ala Pantera or Machine Head. The vocals are suitably angry, though, ...

Force-Fed Hatred Full-length, 1997
Showdown Full-length, 1999

POTRA (FINLAND)

The groovy post-thrash formula is brought about again this time given an energetic faster twist with nods towards the classic school even. Alas, those moments should have been more, because it's there where the guys show their more musically proficient side coming up with a few nice edgy riffs.

E.M.O.N.E. EP, 2008

POUNDING DEMISE (GERMANY)

Based on the "Only Death Remains" demo, this band plays very good technical thrash/death metal which base is Death's "Human", or even Pestilence's "Testimony of the Ancients", but the sound clings more towards thrash, and here one can hear atmospheric sections where even clean vocals are involved (see where the influences on the modern scene come from), as opposed to the basic aggressive, Max Cavalera-like ones. The tempo is energetic, and there are sharp technical riffs aplenty for the thrash/death metal fans to enjoy.

Only Death Remains Demo, 1991
Children of the Abyss Demo 1993

POWER (GERMANY)

The band's habit at painting their faces in a manner similar to Kiss does not do them a very big favour, as their music (based on the debut) is well-executed classic thrash which crosses the European and the American school in an admirable way. In the guitar department one can hear interesting, semi-technical riffs which strangely remind me of the Brits Hydra Vein and, respectively, Destruction. They carry the album through most of the time, but there is also a certain presence of heavier guitars bringing to mind Slayer's late 80's period, as well as straight Bay Area pounding ones ala Vio-lence and Exodus. "Roll the Dice" is more Bay Area and late 80's Slayer-oriented, partially abandoning the more technical approach of the debut, with a more aggressive sound, but is another cool effort.

Thrashblitz Full-length, 2004
Roll the Dice Full-length, 2007

POWER GATES (JAPAN)

Thrash/death metal along the lines of Ghoul and Frightmare, but this is more brutal, with a more frequent adherence to grindcore blast-beats, and very low-tuned death metal vocals. Still there are enough thrashy riffs, although some of you might lose their patience while waiting for the next grindcore attack to pass. If nothing else, at least those of you who have waited until the end, will be able to enjoy one full-blooded thrasher: "Russian Roulette"- quite a good number, if we, of course, exclude the absolutely unnecessary grinding section at the end.

Shout At The Evil Full-length, 2005

POWER OF EXPRESSION (GERMANY)

90's groovy post-thrash of the mid-paced variety, not really hard-hitting, with elements of hardcore ala Gang Green and Pro-Pain.

The Power of Expression Full-length, 1994
Water EP, 1995
X-Territorial Full-length, 1995

POWERLORD (USA)

A very good album mixing power, speed and thrash metal similar to early Exciter, Agent Steel's debut or Attacker's "Second Coming". "Masters Of Death" is a fine opener with dynamic galloping tempos and powerful semi-clean vocals which are not strangers to a high-pitched screaming, whenever necessary. "Malice" is a cool speed metal piece, followed by "Silent Terror": slower, power metal-oriented. "The Invasion Of The Lords" is a smashing speed/thrasher in the best tradition of the Agent Steel debut. "Merciless Titans" starts as a calmer power metal track, but later evolves into another thrashing delight. "The (The Awakening) Powerlord" is the definitive American speed/power metal hymn, a graceful closer to this short, but commendable effort.

The Awakening Full-length, 1986

Vibrations of Doom

POWERMAD (USA)

This band reached a much wider audience due to the cult director David Lynch who included their song "Slaughterhouse" in the soundtrack for his hit "Wild At Heart". This track is the opener for their full-length which is fairly entertaining speed/thrash metal with classic heavy metal numbers pushed towards the second half of the album which creates the impression that the two halves had been recorded at a different time. Although "Slaughterhouse" remains the best song on the album, there are other impressive energetic speed/thrashers: "Absolute Power", "Test the Steel" (which has a touch of early Helloween), as well as a nice short technical piece: "Return from Fear". Then begins the second half which still holds one more aggressive surprise: "Fallsafe", among the longer, slower, more melodic, and less impressive numbers.

Powermad EP, 1987
Absolute Power Demo, 1987
The Madness Begins... EP, 1988
Absolute Power Full-length, 1989

POWERS COURT (USA)

Based on "The Red Mist Of Endenmore", this band play excellent power/thrash with a slight technical edge. This is really great stuff, which is sometimes energetic and up-tempo, sometimes is heavy and mid-paced (the magnificent crushing thrashterpiece "There Once Was A Time"). The tempos often change, and the riffs are very sharp, accompanied by stylish melodic hooks. The overall style is close to early Iced Earth, Eidolon and the Swedes Pathos, but these guys seem to thrash harder (check out the marvellous riff-fest "Darkness Calls", and every other song). The riff-work dominates, leaving little room for the leads, which are short and would pass through your ears without notice most of the time, while waiting for the next riffy section to arrive. "Vain Regrets" is a nice semi-ballad, coming as a very well-deserved break for the guys near the end, before the aggression begins once again, but just for one more effort: the marvellous intense speed/thrasher "Cold Day in Hell". The singer has a unique, thin, highly-strung melodic tember, which suits the hard music fine, although some might find it too soft for the style.
"Nine Kinds of Hell" is another good effort, but is probably not as striking; the songs are longer, and the sound is more melodic, sticking to the power metal formula more often. The arrangements are more complex, with obvious pretensions for the tag "progressive": the 8-min "Conquistador", which is actually a ballad, with nice epic melodies, but will not appeal to thrash metal fans a lot. Still, there are nice moments, like the energetic power/thrashing opener "The Tragedy of Faust"; the galloping speed/power metal number "Devil's Triangle"; the technical jumpy power/thrashterpiece "Tanzania": a magnificent song with brilliant Oriental melodies and sharp riffs: the highlight of the album; the nice atmospheric heavy "House of Sorrow"; the excellent intense up-tempo thrashy closer "Emptiness". The singer Danie Powers sings even higher here, to the extent of sounding clearly operatic at quite a few times, which might be annoyance to some. This is really an entertaining listen, showing the band in a less aggressive light, concentrating on atmosphere, melody and a more thought-out delivery.
The self-titled debut is a sure-handed slab of classic American power metal with again fewer ties to thrash. The music stays closer to early Helstar and Omen, and is mostly in mid-pace with a heavy bass-bottom and generally heavy guitar work, frequently using the galloping patterns. Danie Powers is more restrained singing lower with just a few more piercing high-pitches unleashed. A couple of faster tracks could have made this effort a more interesting one; now this wall of heavy power/proto-thrash may tire a bit sticking to a samey formula unless you are a keen horse rider: this music will definitely inspire you to explore the prairies on a horseback like a vintage 19th century cowboy.

Powers Court Full-length, 1996
Nine Kinds of Hell Full-length, 2001
The Red Mist Of Endenmore Full-length, 2008

POWERSURGE (BANGLADESH)

One more act coming from Bangladesh, playing quite good classic thrash of the more technical variety. The music possesses this pounding galloping quality characteristic of the works of late 80-s Helstar, interrupted by sudden speed/thrash explosions in the tradition of the German school (Paradox, Angel Dust, Toxic Shock). Some numbers are complex technical affairs: the excellent opener "Aprostut Juddho", the nice tribute to late-80's Metallica "Mitther Agrashon"; others are direct blitzkrieg thrashers: "Hangor", "Agnisnan". When the guys reduce the speed, things become less impressive: the ordinary, even groovy "Shadhinotar Barta", also infused with a few melodic breaks; the acoustic ballad "Slogan". There are occasional leanings towards the modern power/speed metal scene: "Powersurge", but most of the time this is potent retro thrash metal with the semi-angry hoarse vocals being the only real drawback: the music would have benefited from a more melodic attached singing.

Aprostut Juddho Full-length, 2008

PRAYERS OF SANITY (PORTUGAL)

Good energetic old school thrash metal which starts with the nice moderate speed/thrasher "Religion Blindness", but soon switches onto a more aggressive play with the explosive "Waiting On Death Row". "Evil May Die" deceives in the beginning that it might offer a softer course, but quickly turns into the next fast-paced killer. No mercy on "No Redemption" either, but "Shards Of Evil" gives the guys the well deserved break, being mid-tempo and laid-back. 3 aggressive thrashers follow suit to close this entertaining piece of classic unadulterated thrash, something which the Portuguese scene has to offer more often.

Religion Blindness Full-length, 2009

PREACHER (USA)

Raw, aggressive and generally fast thrash metal which surprisingly sounds closer to the early days of the Brazilian metal scene; the band's style is similar to Sarcofago, Vulcano, Sextrash, early Bathory, too (it has a certain black metal flavour at times). Preacher are probably better musicians than the aforementioned bands, but their approach is pretty much the same: evil and relentless black/thrash attack.

Trapped In Hell EP, 1987

PRECIOUS DEATH (USA)

Based on "Southpaw": I could have blamed these guys for shamelessly copying the Flotsam & Jetsam's "Cuatro" at times, if this album hadn't been released a bit earlier. The other target for worship is Death Angel's "Act III". So what we have here is power/thrash simillar to the Flotsams' transformation from the 90's, but this one is not as good, inserting funk elements ala Mordred and Death Angel, but when the guys do this, they completely forget about the metal riffs, and these parts are simply bad, having nothing to do with metal. There are also quite a few balladic and heavy/power metal moments. It's only the heavy, pounding guitar work akin to the one in "Quatro" ("No-Can-Do", "Force Fed") which strikes a cord; the rest is nothing more than a failed attempt to sound original, resulting in a very uneven and unconvincing mixture. The band's last, self-titled debut is awful nu-metal, the lowest possible bottom a once thrash metal act could reach.

Southpaw Full-length, 1993
If you Must Full-length, 1994
Precious Death Full-length, 1996

PRECIPICE (USA)

This is a project of two members of Hellwitch. Based on the two demos, the style is not too far removed from the father band; this is a thrash/death metal mixture, with more concentration on technicality than on speed (although some songs excel on speed, too), and more atmospheric, with slower, gothic-tinged passages involved as well. The songs here are longer, and the time changes and the great technical riffs keep them interesting throughout. The vocals are totally opposite to the unholy snarls of Hellwitch: deep low death growls ala Jan-Chris De Koeijer from Gorefest. Fans of Massacra, Atheist and Death would also want to check this band out.
The full-length comes 6 long years after the demo stage, and the music is not as technical anymore. The slower gothic passages are here again, and the lead guitar work has improved, but the overall approach lacks a punch, often adhering to less speedy, somewhat dragging sections. In other words what we have is pedestrian gothic-tinged death/thrash, recalling the early 90's Dutch scene: Gorefest, Asphyx, also the Swedes Cemetary's early period, etc., but not as good, and more thrash-based.

The Foundation Demo, 1994
Black Sun Rising Demo, 1995
Prophet of Doom Full-length, 2001

PREDATOR (USA)

A pretty acceptable entry into the classic power/thrash metal side of the genre; the opening "Cursed (Letters From Hell)" is the staple energetic 80's American number, but "Between Vengeance & Forgiveness" tells another story: an awesome technical Coroner-sque piece with mindblowing riffs and great leads; a song for which alone this album is a must-listen. Unfortunately "Closet Anti-Christ" returns to the more standard patterns being another cool dark power/thrasher paving the way for the smashing semi-technical mid-pacer "Demon Soul" graced by a fine faster galloping ending. "Die Unborn" is heads-down speed/thrash with short screaming leads, and "Icon" is a cool, albeit hardly necessary, nod to the 90's power/speed metal scene to which the excellent high-pitched clean vocals ala Ralf Scheepers (Gamma Ray, Tyran Pace) are very fitting. "Fugue-itive" is 2-min of a technical lead show-off courtesy of the guitar maestro Damien Lee Thorr; a nice offbeat track which seamlessly flows into another major speed/thrasher: "Lone Wolf", intense aggressive shred which completely disappears on the melower galloping power metal number "Mercy", but the brutal thrashing gloriously returns with the short explosive "A Moment, Sir...". The alternation between the two sides carries on with "In The Name Of God?" which is some more power metal of the American type, before the closing "The Border" wraps it up nicely serving a potent mix of melodic and hard-hitting riffs on a heavy galloping mid-base with the odd semi-technical twist thrown in.
"Born in Blood" is richer in melody, a tendency well reflected on the melo-speedy opener "Days Without Rain". As a matter of fact, thrash is not very well covered, the overall style clinging between Griffin and early Helstar. "Burn" is a stylish exercise in heavy technical power/thrash, but the rest is pretty conventional old school stuff with interesting lead variations on "Far Beyond Death"; pompous orchestral arrangements on the operatic interlude "Die Not My Hopes"; and a guitar wizard show-off on the closing 2-min instrumental "Caprice 16". The singer is by far the finest asset singing in an attached emotional manner the whole time, a nice reminder of both the first Scanner vocalist Michael "M.A.J.O.R." Knoblich and the aforementioned Ralf Scheepers.

Predator Full-length, 2009
Born in Blood Full-length 2011

PREDATOR T (VENEZUELA)

An energetic good mix between the 80's speed/thrash metal sound (Toxic Shock, Solitaire, Cranium) and a pinch of crossover; the traditionally fast tempo is "broken" by a couple of heavy dark atmospheric numbers ("No God For Me!", the epic power/thrasher "One Day..."). The bass work is quite good, but the singer is hardly an asset, unleashing a gruff death-ish tone. Expect surprises later on, like the extreme ultra-fast thrash/deathster "6-6-Cervezas". The extremity remains for "In The Name Of War", which is blitzkrieg speed metal in the best tradition of Solitaire, and another ultra-track: the smashing speed/thrasher "Open Beer"; "6-6-Cervezas" is another "nuclear" bomb, starting with the funeral march, and later on "flirts" with another popular tune, which I'm not sure where it comes from. Time for crossover to justify its presence with "Policia", before "Dia Del Apocalipsis" nails you down with another fine slab of fast uncompromising thrash. This is a true commitment to the classic sound, done in a direct stripped-down manner, without any ado, staying away from both melody and technicality.
"Thrash, Beer & Sex" will give you the first in big dozes, but for the other two: you'll have to take care yourselves. Otherwise the music is faithful to the band's chosen path, ripping speed/thrash metal this time coming with a stronger shade of crossover, and with more melodic guitar work. The leads are much more widely covered, but generally the musicianship is in the same direct simplistic vein. The guys abandon the fast pace for a short string of slower songs near the end, but the exiting trio is the highlight pulling out brisk intense thrash/crossover at its classic best.
"Red Day" spreads its wing wider, now moving onto proto-death and more overt hardcore. The resulting "therapy" is mixed although at least the more aggressive deathy passages suit the gruff singer better. The musicianship has decreased in terms of quality, and now the guys bash directly without too much thought put into the proceedings, leading to more simplistic tracks, where only the good leads strike a cord. The rest is energetic, but hardly very impressive, thrashcore with a touch of death.

March of Death Full-Length, 2009
Thrash, Beer & Sex Full-Length, 2010
Red Day Full-Length, 2011

PREDATORY VIOLENCE (GERMANY)

Based on "Hate Nation", this band plays chuggy modern post-thrash with a more frequent adherence to intense pure thrashy moments (the vigorous headbanger "Homicidal Man"), with abrasive guitar work and shouty aggro-vocals.

Predatory Violence Full-length, 2007
Meet the Cure Full-length, 2009
Hate Nation Full-length, 2010

PREDICTION (POLAND)

This obscure Polish formation plays really cool classic speed/thrash crossing the early German trends (Destruction, Exumer) with the American scene (Sentinel Beast, Whiplash). The music is vigorous and intense, also touching Rigor Mortis on the more intense material ("Agresja", presumably "Aggression" in Polish, which justifies its title despite the few melodic hooks which smell Paradox). The sound quality is crystal clear giving the guitars a lashing crisp sound although the singer is a pullback with his gruff low-tuned death metal delivery.

Nihil Desperandum Demo, 1993

PREFERENCE (AUSTRALIA)

Based on the "Tomorrow" EP, these guys offer a boring uneventful blend of groovy post-thrash and alternative. The singer sometimes uses a more interesting melodic blend similar to Dax Riggs (Acid Bath, also Agents of Oblivion), but unfortunately most of the time he sticks to shouty hardcore patterns.

Greed Death Time Money EP, 2006
Tomorrow EP, 2006

PREJUDICE (BELGIUM)

Based on "Reality", this is chunky, technical thrash/death metal, quite well done, similar to Atheist and Chemical Breath. This is compelling music with some of the finest technical riffs in a while and head-spinning time changes. Reportedly their next album moves into the brutal technical death metal realm by retaining the technical play, but it would be of no interest to thrash fans.

Broken Promises Full-length, 1998
Reality Full-length, 2001
Dominion of Chaos Full-length, 2004

PREMONITION (USA)

The band's debut demo is one of the finest gems hidden in the American metal underground of the 80's. It reminds in a magnificent way of some of the late 80's masterpieces: Torture's "Storm Alert", Forbidden's debut, Viking's "Man Of Straw", Helstar's "Nosferatu" and also Gammacide in the faster, more aggressive sections. The musicianship is on a very high level: very technical guitar work mixed with speedy intense parts and a great singer who uses his clean voice most of the time, but also does a very good job when he goes for the higher tones.
"Visions of Emptiness" might startle you a bit in the beginning, mostly because of the new singer who has this hardcore-ish blend in the voice, characteristic of the modern 90's bands' singers, but the music is nothing short of outstanding: superb technical thrash, not too far from the first demo, but less speedy, and more technical. The time changes would make even Coroner (who are the closest soundalike this time: think "Mental Vortex") and Mekong Delta pay attention, and the heavy riffs will crush you like a steam-roller. There is not much sheer aggression involved here, the concentration is purely on technicality and complex song structures which never lose focus, and are even graced by nice leads.
"Brutal Healing" is another exemplary display of technical musicianship, albeit in a more updated 90's way, with a heavy proto-modern guitar sound well shown on the 10-ton technical steam rolling opener "Unlike You". The crushiness carries on with "Of Spirit, Body, And Mind" which is a choppy hectic track with a nice speedy break. "Brutal Healing" will "heal" you "brutally" with super-heavy smashing riffage with not much technicality involved. "Induced Psychosis" is another busy technical song, quite dynamic, even headbanging at some point near the end, the very one occupied by a twisted technical riff. The vocalist continues in the same hardcore vein, maybe with an added angry blend to more ably support the crushing more modern-sounding music.
The modern trends of the 90's have obviously affected the band's sound, and by the time of the release of their last demo, the music has almost completely transformed into heavy groovy 90's post-thrash; not bad, but pretty derivative.

Demo 1989 Demo, 1989
Visions of Emptiness Demo, 1992
Brutal Healing Demo, 1993
The Human Condition Demo, 1995

PREMUNITION (USA)

5 songs of classic headbanging thrash which moves from all-out speedsters ("Endless Genocide", "Awaited In Vain") in the Bay-Area tradition to heavy mid-paced smashers ("Call Of Vengeance"). "Blind Faith" mixes both tempos, and the singer gives the music a slight hardcore colouring with his Kurt Brecht (D.R.I.)-like voice.
"Creepers" is built around the songs from the EP, the newer material placed in the beginning, so expect a similar old school speed/thrash assault which is especially impressive on the forceful intense opener "Death March". Things slow down on the softer "Power Wolves", but "Creepers" is super-dynamic speedy thrash ala Angel Dust, after which some relief is offered on the heavy stomper "Ghosts of Kampala". Then come the tracks from the EP in an unchanged form, split in the middle by the great fast thrash/speedy "Instrumental" which also blast-beats for a while.

Call of Vengeance EP, 2009
Creepers Full-length, 2009

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PRENATAL END (GREECE)

Decent semi-technical thrash with longer tracks and cool guitar work, but the guys are not brave enough to come up with a more powerful technical sound. On top of that the pace is slow-ish to mid-tempo, and with the length of the songs exceeding the normal one, the overall sound is kind of monotonous, a feeling further aggravated by the clean, but weak one-pitched vocals, which can not be saved even by nice balladic moments ("Pilgrims of Despair").

Pilgrims Of Despair Demo, 1989

PREPARED TO KILL (BRAZIL)

This is good stuff with clear 80's thrash metal flavour: think Kreator, Destruction; the guys offer a Destruction cover at the end of "Thrash Hell Ultimate": "Curse The Gods". The "The First Murderer" offers 2 songs of the same stuff: energetic edgy Germanic thrash metal this time coming with a more technical delivery resulting in longer a bit more complex numbers.

When Death Calls Demo, 2002
Thrash Hell Ultimate Demo, 2004
The First Murderer Demo, 2009

PRESCIENT (USA)

This is very good dark progressive power/thrash metal with dark doomy shades akin to Communic, Nevermore's debut , respectively Sanctuary's "Into the Mirror Black", Pathos, later-period Hexenhaus, etc. "Frame Dragger" opens the album in a seismic thundering manner with some of the heaviest riffs around topped by excellent deep soulful clean vocals which are at times intercepted by more brutal proto-death metal ones; watch out for the brilliant elegiac doomy exit on this one. "Footfall of Strangers" is a compelling blend of hard thrashy riffs and calmer proto-balladic sections. This song sets the tone for most of the material following suit, with a fine short atmospheric electronic piece "In Disbelief" breaking the darkness in the middle. It's followed by the only more open exercise in doom ("In the Eyes of Lesser Beings"), before "Mortal" speeds up with more energetic galloping riffs. "Denominations" is a dark progressive masterpiece, vintage Sanctuary with the best vocal performance, followed by the semi-balladic "The Night I Saw the Heavens Burn" which main riff will remind you of Nevermore's "What Tomorrow Knows", and this song can indeed fit into that band's debut any time. The same, however, can not be said about the closer "A Kind Remembrance", which is a romantic piano-dominated ballad with the singer showing his more operatic vocal abilities. Still, it remains more than a fitting epitaph to this slightly depressing, but very well-execuited, slab of dark progressive music, a valuable addition to a style which boundaries are yet to be reached.

Emergence Full-Length, 2011

PRESIDENT (SPAIN)

Based on the single, this is melodic power/thrash metal topped by nice lead guitar work resembling the works of German acts like Liar, Tyrant, early Risk, etc.

Fucked Nightmare Single, 1989
Have a Nice Trip Full-length, 1993

PRESIDENT EVIL (GERMANY)

A blend of stoner/doom and thrash metal; it might not sound very appealing, but cool headbangers ("Boneless") could be found here. This is not hard-hitting music, but it's interesting to hear how these two contrasting styles could co-exist. "Hell in a Box" brings nothing new to the scene, maybe it sounds less thrashy, with less intense guitar work, but happy rockers, like "King Asshole", will surely make you dance around.

Evil Goes To Hollywood EP, 2005
Thrash'n Roll Asshole Show Full-length, 2006
Hell in a Box Full-length, 2008

PRESSBOIL (CZECH)

Dynamic, jumpy thrash/death of the old school, which is both clever and semi-technical, and intense and aggressive. The last two tracks lose the plot a bit, being shorter and less serious, incorporating blast-beats and hardcore rhythms to a not very positive effect. The vocals are not a very big asset, either, being low-tuned, growling and muffled with a guarrelsome note.

Promo Demo, 2008

PRESSKOPP (GERMANY)

Groovy industrialized modern thrash metal sounding like a mix between Puncture and heavier Pantera.

Demo Demo, 2000

PRESTIGE (FINLAND)

An average, typical thrash metal band of the old school; after failing to make any big impression with their first two albums, the band increased the aggression on their last one, moving it towards the hardcore arena. This album actually packs a punch at times with its more unpolished production fitting for the rawer, more intense sound.

Veijo EP, 1989
Attack Against Gnomes Full-length, 1989
Selling The Salvation Full-length, 1990
Priest Single, 1990
Parasites In Paradise Full-length, 1992

PRESTO? (BRAZIL)

Based on "Atentado Sonoro", this is the style of Cryptic Slaughter's debut "Convicted" having survived up to present days; in other words these guys provide extremely brutal uncompromising thrash/crossover with a frequent adherence to bashing grind, shooting very short barely 1-min long bullets/tracks in a furious aggressive manner. The closer "Casos Como Este" is close to 4-min (!), although the second half is just a radio sample playing merry rock'n roll.
"A.Q.N.P." is the same uncontrolled fury, which this time is pure hardcore on at least half of the album, bashing the whole time through the 20 tracks most of which seldom reach the 1-min limit.

A.Q.N.P. Full-length, 2000
+Ôdio Puro Concentrado Full-length, 2002
Atentado Sonoro Full-length, 2004
Comportamento Macabro Full-length, 2009

PRIEST OF DEATH (BRAZIL)

Based on the "Extinction Web Pack" EP, this act offers cool old school thrash metal coming with a good sound quality and crisp energetic guitars. The tempo is pretty fast seldom reaching the less bridled Slayer-esque aggression ("Message In A Bullet"), but delivers all the way. The vocalist is also on par with the good music singing in a detached gruff semi-clean manner similar to Rick Astley (Xentrix).

Soluções Violentas EP, 2008
Extinction Web Pack 2010 EP, 2010

PRIH LOP (RUSSIA)

This young Russian act plays a melodic brand of power/thrash metal coming as a more edgy version of the 90's power/speed metal sound. The riff work is often interrupted by melodic hooks although the guys are not strangers to more intense thrashing ("I Am") ala early Iced Earth. The pace is mid for most of the time also spiced with vigorous galloping rhytmhs ("War of Property", "The Past Love"). The closer "A Man Without a Name" is a nice heavy ballad with a slightly flat unemotional vocal performance.

Puppet of the Faith Full-length, 2009

PRIMAL SCREAM (USA)

Simplistic, basic thrash metal mixed with crossover elements; the guys start quite well with short direct thrashers ("State of the State", "War and Sin"), but the music partialy loses its edge on more laid-back numbers ("Last Breath", "Kill the Light"). The intensity springs up here and there ("Ignorance Is No Excuse", "Mr. McCreedy") later on, as well as on the nice closer "Shot on Sight" which thrashes with force combined with stomping moments ala Celtic Frost.

Volume One Full-length, 1987

PRIME EVIL (USA)

Based on the "The Manifestation" demo, this band come up with a fairly interesting semi-technical mixture of thrash and death metal which bears resemblance to the Incubus debut, and even Nocturnus, but there are also slower heavier sections ala Celtic Frost, and although the guys definitely have the necessary skills to pull out something more complex like they show here and there, they prefer to stick to the more straight-forward thrash/death metal approach, which still delivers the goods.
The self-titled demo is direct aggressive thrash, bordering on death, not miles away from Dark Angel's "Darkness Descends" and Slayer's "Reign in Blood". "Living In Fear" slightly betrays the brutal character of the demo, being longer, a bit slower and more melodic with a crossover attitude and cool choppy riffs.

Prime Evil Demo, 1987
The Manifestation Demo, 1988
Industry Demo, 1990
Terminal Dementia Single, 1992
Unearthed Best of/Compilation, 2002

PRIME MOVER (BRAZIL)

Based on the debut, these guys offer 90's heavy post-thrash, quite typical for the time stuff, with good melodic clean vocals, which this below average music simply doesn't deserve. There are rock-ish, punk-ish, hardcore, alternative and grunge elements inside, and expectedly the final result is quite mish-mashy and unappealing, at least to the regular thrash metal fan. The band members have two other much better, and more classic-sounding, projects: Hammerhead, with whom they released one good Bay-Area influenced full-length in 1992 ("Shadow of a Time to Be"), and Stage Diver with whom they produced one demo the same year.

Pull it Off! Full-length, 1995
My Experience Full-length, 1997

PRIMEVAL (USA)

The EP is intense technical thrash/death metal with very brutal low-tuned vocals and nice keyboard tunes, which will remind you of Nocturnus and early Therion. The tempo is predominantly mid, often interrupted bu jumpy faster sections, and "The Puritan" is a cool doomy atmospheric gothic/death metal piece. Apart from 4 new songs, there is one remix of a track from their full-length debut: "Manipulation": a surreal weird doomy composition with a backward play ala Morbid Angel present as well as one live recording of a song from that same album, called "Lie": a hectic technical death/thrasher.

Temptation Full-length, 1997
Scorn of Incubus EP, 1998

PRIMITIVO (CHILE)

Heavy groovy post-thrash with a dry mechanical sound and throaty death metal vocals; at their best the guys recall early Meshuggah, but those more dynamic moments are buried in the rest which is quite repetitive consisting mostly of abrasive cold mid-paced riffs.

Primitivo Full-length, 2008

PRIMORDIAL IDOL (BRAZIL)

These Brazilians pull out vicious retro black/thrash ala Bulldozer spiced with the heavy epic mid-period Bathory break ("Azoth"); don't rely on the latter too much, though, since the tempo is fast for most of the time, except on the cool mid-paced power/thrasher "Medieval Throne". The singer is a very close soundalike to AC Wild (Bulldozer). The band members have two side projects: the atmospheric black metal outfit Goat Prayers, and the retro thrash metal formation Speed Metal Hell.

Rebellion War Demo, 2001

PRIMORTAL AGGRESSION (USA)

Robert R.Egler is a famous figure in the metal underground, and is probably featured on the Guinness Book of records as the man who has the biggest number of one-man projects, so far closing on 18. The styles are mostly thrash, death metal and grindcore. In this particular case we have fast furious thrash/death/grind, in other words, all the genres are mixed together on an abrasive modern base, obviously done on a computer, and this is perhaps the main reason why the songs all sound too samey: fast one-dimensional noisy stuff with Egler providing high-pitched semi-shouty vocals which don't change throughout the album. Well, let's not forget that the guy has to spare himself for the other 17 acts...

Among The Dead Full-length, 2004

PRIORATO (ECUADOR)

This is moody doomy stuff, still a mix of thrash and death metal of the more modern variety scoring high in the melodic sector where the guitarists leave their hearts with a few tear-rending moments, which are quite good, by the way, smelling mid-period Rotting Christ a fair bit. Still, all will more than welcome the intense thrasher near the end "Camino al Priorato" to stir their souls, but the dominant atmosphere is more on the dark melancholic side ruined by the scary serpentine black metal vocals.

Camino al Priorato Full-length, 2009

PRISONERS OF FAITH (USA)

4 songs of cool retro power/thrash metal with epic elements; the guys bring the desirable progressive colouring on the longer compositions ("Rise Of Aries (Gods Of War)", which is a compelling mix of slower epic and faster galloping sections). "Resistance is Useless" is a short mid-paced thrasher, and "Revenge Will Come" is officiant epic metal ala Manilla Road with not many ties to thrash, the main difference coming from the clean melodic emotional vocals. "Long Last Crusade" is epic doom/thrash/power metal clinging more towards the melodic side, but this short effort has other targets apart from the thrash metal fanbase.

Resistance is Useless EP, 2010

PRISTINA (USA)

This new band plays a chaotic heavy mixture of thrash and death metal of the modern variety with a lot of groove present, but not in a bad way. There is a twisted technical aesthetics involved distantly recalling Morbid Angel, but everything develops on a mid-paced base with not much speed involved. Still this could be worth checking out as there are clever time changes and crooked riffs; don't mind the singer, though: his hysterical synthesized shouts are hardly the main asset of this recording.

Boner Jams '07: The Harpooned Heart Full-length, 2007

PRIVATE GOVERNMENT (CYPRUS)

Avantgarde progressive post-thrash with shades of both Opeth and Porcupine Tree and an operatic keyboard atmosphere permeating the whole album in a sureal magical fashion. The compositions are long, mostly in the 1st half, with numerous other influences thrown in, among which particularly good is the one of mid-period Paradise Lost ("Deliverance"). More intense ripping thrash can be heard on "Green Eyed Monster", and the rest doesn't lack dynamics as a whole since the riff-work is really cutting expanding into another extra portion of vigorous thrash on the bonus track "Road To Paradise" which is followed by the interesting jumpy cover of Michael Jackson's (R.I.P.) "They Don't Care About Us" where one of the numerous singers involved in this project ejects the man's characteristic semi-scream to a startling effect which is further amplified by the very good leads present.

Diavatirio Full-Length, 2009

PRIVATE PROPERTY (USA)

Classic power/thrash which starts promisingly with the fast Bay-Areasque "As I see Fit", but later offers trite repetitive heavy riffs, "Trashcan Man" being the soft heavy/power metal deviation where the aggressive angry vocals and the brutal male choruses are quite misplaced.

Private Property EP, 1993

PRIVILEGE OF APPROVAL (AUSTRIA)

These Austrians pull out vintage thrash/melo-death metal of the Swedish school. The sound of At the Gates and early In Flames is brought to the fore for the upteenth time in the past few years, this band bringing nothing new to the field playing competently and all, spicing things up with nice orchestral intro and outro.

Privilege of Approval EP, 2010

PRO-PAIN (USA)

This very popular and prolific band started their career with three outstanding hardcore-laced albums, which remain their finest hour so far. With their self-titled release they moved more towards the thrash metal spectre by retaining their hardcore base. There is no much variety between albums: energetic thrash/hardcore with heavy groovy sections is what these guys offer, but it works well as their music has its appeal to metal fans of various tastes.
"Absolute Power" bears no surprises offering full of energy and catchiness thrashcore with a few inevitable "excursions" into slower groovy waters, plus one shocking exercise in brutal extreme death metal (parts of "Hate Coalition"), and one nice crossover reminder of their early days ("Divided We Stand") placed at the end.

Foul Taste of Freedom Full-length, 1992
The Truth Hurts Full-length, 1994
Contents Under Pressure Full-length, 1996
Pro Pain Full-length, 1998
Act of God Full-length, 1999
Round 6 Full-length, 2000
Shreds of Dignity Full-length, 2002
Run For Cover Full-length, 2003
Fistful of Hate Full-length, 2004
Prophets of Doom Full-length, 2005
Age of Tyranny - The Tenth Crusade Full-length, 2007
Absolute Power Full-length, 2010

PROAGRESSION (ARGENTINA)

After the beautiful acoustic intro, which is an obvious nod to Metallica's "To Live is to Die", these Argentinians overwhelm us with pretty good technical old school thrash metal which again stays close to late-80's Metallica with more speedy shades ala Paradox ("Enemigo Del Destino") thrown in. The progressive deviations are a bit longer here, but when the guys thrash, they take no prisoners: "Ciega Realidad". The singer is a more aggressive less melodic version of James Hetfield with again a touch of Charly Steinhauer (Paradox).

Ciega Realidad Demo, 2011

PROCESS (DENMARK)

Based on the debut demo, this band plays melodic power/thrash metal of the dreamy semi-doomy type with catchy melodic, slow to mid-paced, riffs and deep clean mid-ranged vocals. There are certain shades of gothic as well, and on the slower moments the guys may remind you of mid-period Katatonia.

Lost in Reverie Demo, 1999
Póg Mo Thón Demo, 2003

PROCESS REVEALED (USA)

4 tracks of laid-back thrash/crossover coming close to Broken Bones ("Thank You") on the more dynamic moments.

Everybody Is On My Side EP, 1988

PROCESSOR (SPAIN)

This album begins with a sprawling, mostly instrumental, progressive composition ("Hunter (Are You Ready To Die)") which will keep you guessing what may happen later since it gathers quite a few influences ranging from industrial to doom. The next "Wolfmen. Dancing With Death" safely settles for modern technical thrash ala mid-period Meshuggah, but your mind will get quite confused after you hear the virtuoso piece "Concertj Non Grosso", a brilliant power/speed metal instrumental ala early Marty Friedman (remember Hawaii). Variety will apparently be the name of the game here, and the heavy groovy "Harmony Of Light And Chorus Of Darkness" should come as no surprise also carrying an intriguing abstract edge ala Treponem Pal; quiet balladic interludes will one encounter there, too, plus a furious death metal section. "Guernica (Dilogy). Tribute To P. Picasso. Part 1. Spanish Pictures. Part 2. Death From The Sky" comes after (these guys definitely find it hard reaching the length of their song-titles with the lyrics) bringing a combination of fabulous guitar shred and heavy abrasive guitars with an industrial shade. "Chaos. Decay Powers Envoy" is a nice semi-ballad ruined, of course, by the aggressive death metal vocals, although the guitar work compensates for that. "Prising Alarm Hour!" is angry modern thrash in mid-pace, followed by the very original cover of Slayer's "South of Heaven", a highly individual take on this immortal hit, here turned into a puzzling dry mechanical technical affair with sudden tempo changes and very interesting offbeat arrangements; a really unique piece. Despite its diverse, and at first listen incoherent, nature, this album will definitely compel you to give it several listens simply because its charm lies in the unexpected musical decisions and the contrasting, but strangely appealing, mixtures which can not possibly be fully grasped at first, and even after second, listen.

Thanatophobia Full-Length, 2002

PROCYON (PORTUGAL)

An EP typical for the time consisting of 90's post-thrash, but nicely staying away from the groove for most of the time also adding the odd classic riff; the music is mid-paced with a jolly, almost punk-ish at times, vibe supported by hoarse semi-clean vocals.
The "Last Seeds of Mind" demo is a purely classic offering, but the awful sound quality takes away from the guitars' bite, which come as too messy, especially on the faster parts. The compositions are lengthy, supported by a strong bass-bottom and clever song-structures, which aptly mix fast and slow passages. The approach has its shades of the Bay-Area, late-80's Metallica in particular, except for the isolated moments when it branches out into pure Germanic speed/thrash ("Asking More"). "Deadly Sin" at the end is a nice crossover reliever, winking at Iron Maiden with a motif from "Charlotte the Harlot" included as a finishing touch. The singer is not too bad, but his rough semi-clean tember needs some refinement, and a tad of emotion.

Obsessed By Time Demo 1987
Songs For Lunatics - Promo Live Tape Demo 1988
Last Seeds of Mind Demo 1990
Read My Lips EP, 1994

PROD (CROATIA)

Modern thrash/death, mostly mid-paced and heavy, descending to gothic/black metal territories at times ("Spirals"), at times elaborating on the balladic side (the beginning of "Hera") . When the music picks more speed, it sounds quite cool ("Perforation Of Entity") coming even with compelling chaotic semi-technical passages, but these moments are, unfortunately, rare.

A Dance for the Guns Demo, 2004

PRODUCT OF WASTE (USA)

Thrashcore of the old type, quite fast and intense similar to early Prong and The Acccused even touching Cryptic Slaughter on the more extreme moments. The slower breaks come in the form of Pro-Pain-esque semi-hardcore/semi-groove implements which sometimes are accompanied by cleaner rappy vocals as opposed to the typical old school hardcore main vocals ala Qualcast "Koffee" Mutilator (Lawnmower Deth).

You Won't Take Me Alive Full-Length, 2008

PROFANATOR (MEXICO)

An album which richly deserves to take "the best metal debut" award for 2005: first-rate 80's thrash along the lines of Destruction, with touches of Slayer and genuine technical passages. This is good energetic music, effortlessly combining more direct, headbanging riffs with more intriguing, technical ones. The tracks are generally long-ish (in the 5-6min range), but are so diverse and easily flowing that you wouldn't find a dull moment there. "666 Days To Follow" sums all that was so great about the 80's thrash scene in its 9-min: it begins in a heavier semi-balladic manner speeding up gradually before it turns into a full-fledged up-tempo thrasher (the music on the whole album very seldom sounds too aggressive), ending in the same quiet way it started. This is a more than a promising start for the band who are hopefully preparing something new in the near future.

"Deathplagued" would be another no-brainer for the retro thrash metal fans: "Faith no More" shoots you straight into a Slayer, Sepultura, Devastation territory where you'll stay for the whole time nailed by a bullet after bullet which this time are shorter and more direct without any technical gimmicks. The singer has chosen a higher more vicious pitch (could be another one?) close to Marcelo "Flegias" Santos (Necrodeath) compared to the almost death-y vocal tone applied on the debut. As a result this offering is also more one-dimensional offering speed, speed and... speed again. No complaints at all with merciless speed/thrashers like "Narcolatry" around which will also remind you of Paradox and Angel Dust. A good faithful cover of Slayer's "Epidemic" awaits you as a final touch.

Libido Clerico Full-length, 2005
Deathplagued Full-length, 2009

PROFANCER (SINGAPORE)

These Singaporeans are obviously inspired by the early Brazilian thrash metal scene- Sarcofago, Sepultura, Volcano, etc. The music here is more amateurish, mostly mid-tempo, with faster outbursts here and there. This is one-dimensional and not very appealing stuff, despite attempts at originality: the songs close with leads which start out of nowhere, and last for a few seconds, but offer nothing too technical.

Rest Without Peace Demo, 1990

PROFANER (CANADA)

This is typical modern thrash metal with classic references which at times aims at the progressive metal crowd, and occasionally succeeds to pull out more intriguing elaborate structures ruined by the pedestrian guitar work and the very brutal low-tuned vocals which are intercepted by even worse high-pitched shrieks. Still, the closer "Signs of Nine" is an ambitious progressive composition closing on 10.5-min to provide cool varied thrash in mid to up-tempo with the leads being the highlight.

Signs of Nine Full-length, 2010

PROFECIA (ECUADOR)

Based on "VII Veces VII": cool retro speed/thrash with black metal vocals; the music is not all-out speed all the time, but contains slower, almost doom-like tracks ("La 7ma. Trompeta", "Los Mil A±os de Soledad", which also has a nice balladic ending). But when the guys speed up, they produce really worthy pieces: "El Ocaso de los 7 Tiempos", "7 Times 7". The production qualities are not very good, having left the guitar sound too fuzzy, and the bass is put too much upfront on some songs. These guys seem to be obsessed with number 7: check the song-titles (and the album title).

Anunciantes del Final Full-length, 1997
...Hacia el Armagedon Full-length, 1999
VII Veces VII Full-length, 2003

PROFECIA (MEXICO)

This is roughly produced thrash/death which closely follows Merciless' debut and Morbid Saint, the main difference coming from the stylish melodic leads. The guys lash with passion, without forgetting about the more moderate breaks. "City Of Lost Souls " is a filling dropper: an explosive bashing piece with a few clever, more technical insertions. "Blind Existence" is a larger-than-life diverser, featuring brutal death and modern groove among the fiery thrashy barrage, which is not very aptly supported by throaty semi-shouty hardcore vocals.

Blind Existence Demo, 1993

PROFETIKA (BRAZIL)

The very familiar modern thrash formula is served here with a more classic twist, which even reaches death metal dimensions on "Ele Veio Para Roubar, Matar E Destruir". Energetic Oriental galloping moments await you on "O Inicio Do Final", but things get a bit messy elsewhere with quite a bit of groove involved, too, as well as more moderate melodic guitars on occasion. Don't expect any surprises in the vocal department, either: the guy is the staple angry semi-shouter.

Serial Killer EP 2010

PROFLIGATE (ITALY)

Cool speed/thrash mixing the 90's trends in the style with the heavier approach of the 80's American scene; the singer is a nice asset with his clean emotional mid-ranged voice, and the guitars bite whenever involved in a more intense shredding, since "Sailing in Silence" is a semi-ballad, and the last "Dreamspace" is a peaceful semi-acoustic instrumental.

Nothing But Silence Demo, 2009

PROGENY (ITALY)

A heavy groovy blend of thrash and death metal which at times picks up respectable speed and sounds quite appealing. The problem is that the guys do not forget about the groove, and it pops up quite a bit on those three tracks. The other good side of this single is that the band are not strangers to more interesting guitar work which has an intriguing surreal edge, not too far from the Voivod 90's period with Eric Forrest, or the Polish Myopia. If we add some stylish atmospheric bass interludes ("Black Sun of the Humanity"), then you know you should check this out, at least out of curiosity. With more concentration on this side, these guys would have no problems sticking out of the metal crowd, especially in their homeland where there are very few bands right now who offer similar music.

Insanity Single, 2007

PROJECT 46

Modern groovy post-thrash which develops in a predictable sleepy tempo until it reaches the final "Wake Up" which will really do a good job to wake you up offering dynamic sharp riffage in up-tempo smelling the Swedish school in a good way; that same track excels in the lead department as well, and a lead tune from there will remind you of the Twisted Sister ballad "I Believe in You", intentionally or not; watch out for the fine peaceful acoustic exit, too.

If You Want Your Survival Sign, Wake Up Full-length, EP

PROJECT-BRAIN-STORM (GERMANY)

Based on the debut, this band play modern/classic thrash mixed with more traditional heavy metal. The final result is more on the melodic side with the presence of a few acoustic ballads, but also some up-tempo thrashers ("Abandon") thrown in.

Truth Lies In The Eye Of The Beholder Full-length, 1999
Pain Full-length, 2007

PROJECT: FAILING FLESH (USA)

This band boasts the presence of Eric Forrest, the man who revived the Voivod career in the mid 90's. The base for the music is modern thrash/death metal, industrially tinged with many unusual tunes (violin solos, etc.), tempo changes and crazy song-structures; quite unconventional, and might pull back the more level-headed fans. The last track will be a delight to everyone, though: a magnificent cover of Venom's "Warhead". "The Conjoined" follows the same path featuring the same frenetic non-standard mixture heard on the debut.
Eric Forrest is alternating between E-Force and this act, and here comes "Count Back From Ten" after a 3-year break. The mixture is predictably wild featuring industrial, thrash, death, cyber post-black, and a bit of doom metal. Purer full-blooded thrashers ("Lose Lose Situation") are not a very common phenomenon; neither are appropriate well-crafted cover versions ("Irrelevant Thoughts", an excellent take on the Prong creeping post-thrasher from "Prove You Wrong"). The Prong cover influences the very cool minimalistic post-apocalyptic number "Patient Zero" where mid-90's Voivod-ish weirdness sneaks in, too. But after that the album returns to the overdone, and not very impressive, concoction of styles on a heavy industrial base topped by the indifferent robotic vocals of Forrest. Extreme metal blends are not a rarity nowadays, and this effort is by no means the worst of the lot, but when delivering in a more homogenous focused manner (check out E-Force), Forrest is well more appealing.

A Beautiful Sickness Full-length, 2003
The Conjoined Full-length, 2007
Count Back From Ten Full-length, 2010

PROJECT PAIN (HOLLAND)

This Dutch act provides cool classic thrash in the vein of mid-80's Kreator with razor-sharp guitars and vicious Mille-like vocals. The approach is a bit more controlled here resulting in a few more clever, more moderate ("Embrace Death") pieces, where the shadow of Destruction can also be felt.

Hatred EP, 2011

PROJECT VANDAL (SLOVAKIA)

These guys play thrash/crossover, energetic and optimistic, with cool not very hard riffage, and semi-clean/semi-shouted vocals. Lawnmower Deth are a very close soundalike, as well as Excel and C.I.A. The music jumps to other styles occasionally acquiring speed/thrashy ("Open Your Eyes") or punk ("This Is Hate") tendencies.

Bullseye!!! Full-Length, 2009

PROJEKTIL (CZECH)

2 songs of speed/power metal (the "Lovci Lebek" demo) with a shade of thrash on the second track ("Kovarna"), which is a fast killer with good high-pitched vocals and nice leads.

Madagaskar/Vzpomfnky Single, 1985
Lovci Lebek Single, 1989
Zpßtky do Zahrady ticha Best of/Compilation, 1998

PROMISCUITY (ISRAEL)

This Israelian trio comes up with 3 songs (one for each member) of noisy chuggy black/thrash, with slightly distorted guitars, which mixes the primal intensity of early Whiplash with the more playful power/thrashy chords of Bewitched. The singer is a major detriment, and his brutal low-tuned death metal delivery is a total waste.

Infernal Rock N' Roll Demo 2011

PRONG (USA)

Prong's beginnings (the first two albums) were raw energetic thrash/hardcore affairs, still considered one of the more uncompromising achievements from this sub-genre. The band abandoned their aggressive attitude on "Beg to Differ" settling down for an original take on the modern 90's sound (at this time not fully developed yet), slow-ish, groovy, with a touch of industrial, and not a big presence of thrash, if any. Having forged an interesting style of their own, which lasted for at least one more full-length ("Prove You Wrong"), the guys brought the speed back on a few tracks from "Cleansing", resulting in a fine more thrashy effort, ably supported by their more recent, modern approach, and is their finest hour at this point.

"Rude Awakening" is the band's most melodic, but no less impressive work, again with no ties to thrash. Then Tommy Victor (the band's founder and frontman) put an end to the band's career, and got involved with other bands (Danzig, Ministry, Killing Joke), before returning with "Scorpio Rising" 7 years later. This album was a direct take on the band's hardcore past, still infused with their unique sound from the 90's; some of the tracks on that one surpassed in terms of aggression even the most furious numbers from their first two efforts, and it's these tracks which kind of didn't work out compared to the better, on a musical level, other material.
"Power of the Damager" is a nice continuation of the more thrash-based sound from "Cleansing", sometimes following those patterns maybe too closely, and is almost as good. It starts in an openly heavy thrashy manner with the nice headbanger "Looking For Them", which will remind you of the band's biggest hit "Whose Fist Is This Anyway" from "Cleansing". Then comes "No Justice", which in its turn sounds very close to "Snap Your Fingers, Snap Your Neck". The "third option" "Third Option" is a cool mix of the jumpy Prong-esque post-thrash and more intense riffage, which comes as a more aggressive "Another Worldly Device". Things only get harder later on, straying away from the "Cleansing" formula, on the pounding intense "Pure Ether", which also adds spacey melodic tunes, again a staple mark for the band, quite well epitomized on "Rude Awakening". "Power of the Damager" is vintage mid-paced heavy thrash, after which the hectic trade mark post-thrash reigns supreme on "The Banishment", bringing the delivery back to "Beg to Differ", where the industrial legend Al Jourgensen (Ministry, Revolting Cocks, etc.) helps with a short performance on keyboards. "Worst Of It" carries on in the same vein with Tommy Victor showing his better vocal abilities with more melodic higher tones, not too far even from Ozzy himself. "Spirit Guide" could be considered the odd ballad, although in the 2nd half the thrashing comes back with full force. "Messages Inside of Me" is another prototypical Prong number with the discordant guitar and the groovy post-thrash approach, but "Can't Stop the Bleeding" returns to thrash territory once again sounding like a leftover from... oh, come on, enough with these references to "Cleansing", man! And enough with this long review as well, although I have to also mention the hardcore-ish "Bad Fall", the sole reminder of the band's very beginnings, and the excellent closer "Changing Ending Troubling Times": an all-out dynamic thrasher with a furious hardcore deviation near the end, ably "assisted" by brutal death metal growls unleashed by Victor (supposedly). I can hear some fans complain about the relative decrease of the original technical/progressive leanings from their works of the 90's on this album, but those same fans will hardly be left indifferent listening to their favourite band's most thrash-fixated release to date. One can hardly think of a better comeback for these guys, and one can easily forget about the previous shaky effort, moshing around, raising his (or whose) fist. Anyway...

Primitive Origins Full-length, 1987
Force Fed Full-length, 1988
Third From The Sun EP, 1989
The Peel Sessions EP, 1990
Beg to Differ Full-length, 1990
Prove You Wrong Single, 1991
Unconditional Single, 1991
Prove You Wrong Full-length, 1991
Whose Fist Is It Anyway? EP, 1992
Snap your Fingers, Break your Back (The Remix EP) EP, 1993
Cleansing Full-length, 1994
Rude Awakening Full-length, 1996
Scorpio Rising Full-length, 2003
Power of the Damager Full-length, 2007

PROPHECY (BRAZIL)

The demo: quite good classic Bay Area thrash along the lines of early Testament and Metallica, among others. The guys play tight and fast, spicing things up with great melodic riffs (check out the sinister doomy break on "Empty Life). "Agony Within" slows down, but remains entertaining with heavy meaty guitars. The vocalist does a good job coming as a potent mix between James Hetfield and Chuck Billy.
The full-length: there will be non-stop moshing on this cool retro thrash reminder; the guys follow with dedication the path of the Bay-Area heroes, especially the one carved by Testament: just listen to "Lying Prophets" and discover the mighty Americans in a better way than "The Formation of Damnation". "Agony Within" is the odd proto-modern stomper, but everything is forgiven after the brisk explosive assault, which is "Empty Life". "Risen From Hell" is the prototypical mid-period mid-tempo heavy Testament number, followed by the more energetic, but still not quite fast "Paradigmatic Reality". "Evilution" pulls all the stops once again, thrashing its soul out. The absolute highlight is the great instrumental "Nameless", which begins in a haunting balladic acoustic fashion, before it develops into a crushing thrash experience, where a big part is given to the nice lead guitar work. This masterpiece overshadows the following not very interesting monotonous "The Game(Is Violence)", but the closer "Legacy Of Ashes" takes no prisoners, thrashing without mercy, putting this promising young outfit right next to master practitioners of the genre from their homeland, like Violator, Bywar, Flashover, Executer, Breakdown, etc.

Technics of Violence Demo, 2001
Legions of Violence Full-Length, 2008

PROPHECY (USA)

On their only demo these guys play a mid-paced fusion of traditional, power and thrash metal; music-wise this is quite good with a nice addition of violin melodies here and there which might remind you of Blind Justice or Skyclad. The downpoint is the terrible, somewhat alternative, vocals which do not suit the music at all.

Serpents of the Valley Demo, 1997

PROPHECY (USA)

This compilation of demos contains long-ish songs (5-7 min long), which do not sound progressive or technical: this is an early blend of power, speed and thrash metal, quite well done, with references to the Nasty Savage debut and Jag Panzer in the heavier parts, or Attacker and Agent Steel, in the speedy ones ("Radiation Wasteland" and especially the magnificent "Cry of the Innocent" richly deserve a place even on the Agent Steel debut with its furious fast riffs). The guitar work is particularly impressive: the guys come up with stylish riffs last heard on the first two Mercyful Fate albums, as well as great leads ala Michael Denner (from the same band); the satanic lyrics also bring this band close to the Danes.

Demos 1985-1987

PROPHETS ON VACATION (USA)

Raw clumsy thrash/crossover which has some of the hypnotic characteristics of Sacrilege's first two albums with its monotonous riff-work at times (on the longer tracks), but unlike the Brits these guys fail to pull out the best out of such an approach, and often does the music try to liven up with spontaneous outbursts reflected in short 1-1.5min songs. There is a bit of S.O.D. ("Speak English or Die") as well, but the dominant boring mid-pace and the unemotional performance by everyone involved makes this effort a lot inferior to the models it tries to follow.

Mosh To Relax To Full-length, 1989

PROPHEXY (USA)

This unknown act, previously known as Prophecy, offers outstanding progressive/technical power/thrash, complex thought-out music coming as a more dynamic early Psychotic Waltz mixed with Sieges Even's "Life Cycle", with nods towards mid-period Fates Warning ("Awaken the Guardian", "No Exit") on the more laid-back parts. The opening "Synthowomb" is a wonderful labyrinth of strange time-changes, hard-hitting riffs, jazzy arrangements topped by very cool emotional clean vocals ala John Arch (Fates Warning) and Bruce Dickinson, setting the tone for the elaborate picture that follows. "Pi" may upset you a bit with the synthesized direction the vocals take at some point, but the music is top-notch progressive metal with great bass work, a speedy mid-section and a weird main theme reminiscent of Voivod's "Killing Technology". "Humanicity" is state-of-the-art hectic technical thrash with a few quiet semi-funky sections thrown-in. "Babba" is a sprawling, mostly instrumental, progressive composition with creepy riffs and balladic passages, the "sleeper" here, but "Babba's Progeny" is already more intense, and although title-wise it's related to the preceding number, in terms of music there is not much to relate it to it, the latter being much shorter, but surprisingly more diverse. That same formula gets repeated on the next 3 songs, until the coming of "Terminal Sorrow": aggressive technical thrash in a galloping pace with many twists and turns. The final "Sdrenoid" is the most ambitious track; quite a varied offering with a stormy aggressive beginning and ending the middle occupied by a slightly overlong balladic passage; the actual finishing touch is actually a very complex jazzy variation ala Spastik Ink which will make your head spin. This excellent debut was left without a follow-up for 5 years when the band came out with the more melodic, but much more complex and abstract, "Alconauta" which is by all means a very engaging listen from beginning to end, but its appeal to the thrash metal fan will be not very big.

Enforce Evolve Full-length, 2004

PROPOSITAL NOISE (BRAZIL)

This is very typical 90's post-thrash without any good ideas and imagination. Soft repetitive riffs without much heaviness or melody keep coming making this fairly belowe average effort sound like a washed-down version of Anthrax's "Stomp 642", finished with an unimpressive cover of the Beastie Boys' "Fight Your Right".

Dogday Full-length, 1997

PROSECTOR (POLAND)

Based on the "Total Shit" demo: this band play aggressive thrash/death ala early Messiah and early Death, which has a nice melodic break in the form of the Russian folk song "Kalinka Maja" in the middle; afterwards the aggression tones down, but just a bit, and the guitars thrash with more precision, although the very bad sound quality will be a big obstacle to enjoy this music.

Total Shit Demo, 1987
Terrible Ceremony Demo, 1988

PROSTATA (FINLAND)

I beg your pardon for the missing information here, but there was nothing available around to help me find more about this otherwise interesting band. Four tracks of instrumental technical thrash with numerous tempo changes and intriguing guitar work; apparently a draft for something bigger to come.

Demo

PROSTHETIC (SWEDEN)

Only one person (Mats Andersson) is behind this modern thrash/death metal hybrid, which is competently done, with a good alternation between melody and aggression, seldom escaping the rules set by their homeland. This is fast, tight, also quite melodic at times, stuff with rough throaty, but intelligible, death metal vocals.

Demolition Demo, 2008
DEMOlition Part II Demo, 2011

PROSTHETICS (SPAIN)

Melodic, laid-back post-thrash with sincere heavy metal leanings; this is soft stuff with adherence to groove quite a bit, as well as to better constructed balladic passages. The guitars are a bit noisy, and the singer is suitable clean with an attached, emotional delivery.

Origen Full-length, 2011

PROTECTED ILLUSION (FINLAND)

The full-length is a small ball of fury which will leave you gaping; just listen to the opening "Clockwork Toy" which in its a bit more than 2-min packs numerous aggressive riffs. This is nothing, however, compared to the following "Plain Pain", which is total blasting death metal with a genuine technical twist. "Children Of The Chords" is an awesome technical death/thrasher, a whirlwind of chaotic technical guitars and raging blasting ones. Later on the sound remains quite technical, favouring death ("Decadence") or thrash ("Greetings From Hell", minus the very aggressive final riffs) more. "Symphonies Of Happines" will definitely make "happy" both the thrash and death metal fans, especially those who love the more technical side of those genres. "Runk +pstr÷m" closes this great work in a more offbeat fashion: after the short very furious death section in the beginning, the band give themselves a break with a melodic rock-ish ballad where the vocals take a good cleaner drunken edge.
"Swimming in the Moonlight" is perhaps more on the thrash metal side, and sounds quite close to the Swedes Merciless' debut, and the early works of Massacra. After the longer, but very aggressive thrasher "Method Of Manipulation" the guys take a more direct approach with shorter numbers which will thrash your heart out. There is no much technicality involved; the band bash with ultimate aggression until the very end.

Swimming in the Moonlight EP, 1989
Festering Fairytales Full-length, 1990
Sandman's Store EP, 1991

PROTECTOR (GERMANY)

After 1986 brought the extreme winds of change in the works of Messiah, Kreator, Sarcofago, Slayer and Dark Angel, 1987 produced its two more vicious "monsters": Death's "Scream Bloody Gore" and Protector's "Misanthropy", and virtually gave birth to the death metal genre. Although death metal was already heard on Messiah's "Hymn to Abramelin", these two works gave the style its more complete finished form: more refined, still thrash-based on "Scream Bloody Gore", and more brutal and faster on "Misanthropy". The Protector debut EP with its 7 compositions is a small album in itself, unleashing 6 (the 1st one is an intro) tracks of misanthropic (the title is very appropriately chosen) blasting death metal to the bone, with only "The Mercenary" showing some lenience with its slower riff work.
The two "fathers" of death metal were quick to release follow-ups to their pioneering debuts the next year, but while Death's "Leprosy" hardened the course, going deeper down the rabbit... sorry, death metal hole, Protector looked towards thrash for inspiration on "Golem", which didn't sound as merciless and extreme anymore. Still it remains pretty fast and aggressive, with a better guitar work, but songs like "Apocalyptic Revelations" and "Golem" are mid-paced at best, even bordering on doom. Certainly, one can easily get a headache on the faster, more death-laced material, like "Delirium Tremens" or "Germanophobe", but the base here is strictly thrash, with one very cool attempt at a more jumpy technical play: "Only the Strong Survive".

"Urm the Mad" combined the two extremes to a not very positive effect: "Molotov Cocktail" is pure bashing grind; "Decadence" is benevolent speed/thrash, something which same year's Paradox' "Heresy" offered aplenty; and "Nothing Has Changed" is ponderous clumsy doom. The rest is more consistent intense blends of thrash and death metal, but still sounding like distant echoes of the groundbreaking debut. By no means full-fledged works of death metal, the first two Protector full-lengths set a good example of how thrash and death metal could co-exist, immediately picked by many new acts, who didn't feel too safe to jump heads-down into the death metal "abyss" without a "rope" (thrash metal, that is, for the less initiated).

"Leviathan's Desire" was solid death metal with fewer hints at thrash, with the guys' message further strengthened by the addition of 3 songs from the "Misanthropy" EP. This marked the band's return to the "realms" of death metal which resulted in the production of two more full-lengths, both very good exercises in fast aggressive old school death metal.
Another legend is coming back, alive and well, with a 4-song demo which shows the guys not having lost their penchant for dark intense tunes, crossing the thrash and death metal genres in seamless fashion. "Road Rage" is rather a tribute to Slayer, than a return to the band's older style, but comes "Deranged Nymphomania", and the death/thrashing madness begins, followed by the short, raging bomb "Terra Mater", before "Birth of a Nation" slows doan a bit to pull the scales towards thrash at the end, the way it started. Martin Missy sings in a more hoarse manner now, lower-tuned and less expressive, albeit still pretty death-like.

Misanthropy EP, 1987
Golem Full-length, 1988
Urm the Mad Full-length, 1989
Leviathan's Desire EP, 1990
A Shedding of Skin Full-length, 1991
The Heritage Full-length, 1993
The Return of Thrash and Madness Demo, 2011

PROTEST (USA)

Based on the full-length, this act provides intense classic thrash with some hardcore tendencies. The guys thrash with conviction adding the necessary stomping break ("Fueled by Hate"; the pensive, quasi-doomy "White Noise"), but you'll have to run cover on the more aggressive, death metal-laced numbers ("Prophet$"). In the 2nd half the speed gets diminished, even a few battle-like touches ("Blood and Sand"), in the spirit of Bolt Thrower, can be caught to a positive effect. Short, more immediate and more aggressive cuts come near the end, where the bridled Slayer-esque aggression ("War Dance Black", "Kill Craft") is hard to be dusguised, even by the very stylish melodic leads. "Turning Tide" is a furious thrash/deathster, closing the album in a shattering fashion, moshing without mercy to the end. The singer is a lower-pitched hardcore-ish semi-shouter, whose angry antics fit the aggressive music quite well.

The Truth Enslaves Us EP, 2008
The Corruption Code Full-length, 2012

PROTEST URBAN (ROMANIA)

Based on the EP, this act plays typical modern Swedish thrash/death metal, at times fast and direct, at others choppy and semi-technical with a taste of metalcore, which is the predominant side, occasionally exiting the extreme metal field ("Amulet"), straying into other softer directions.

The Only Problem In This Case Is The Solution Full-length, 2005
I Can't Find A Question To Survive The Answer Full-length, 2006
Don't Disturb Me When I Need You EP, 2008

PROTON BURST (FRANCE)

The band's works of the 90's are mixtures of groovy thrash and death metal with industrial overtones, recalling the Canadians Obliveon on their best moments. This band are one of the very few who offer free downloads of all their efforts on their official website.
"Silence" is a good, but not the most thrashy, work of the band. "Straight" sounds like a thrashy industrialized Dead Kennedys, especially with the Jello Biafra-like vocals; actually this song is not too far from the sound on the Biafra's side-project Lard. "Ombres" is a lengthy monotonous track which would easily make Godflesh or Scorn proud. "Silence" is an effective Killing Joke-like composition where it's a bit farfetched to talk about thrash. Later on the music indulges into industrial metal with only sparkles of more aggressive thrashy delivery: the Ministry-influenced "N.W.G." (the title could be a reference to that band's huge hit "N.W.O."), the dark brooding "Sex O-D". The outro is whole 19-min long, but is nothing more than just minimalistic ambient noise. This is by no means a weak effort, but from a thrash metal point of view it does not hold water for long.

La Nuit Full-length, 1994
Sphere Spike EP, 1997
Silence Full-length, 1998
La Casa de Bernarda Alba Full-length, 2007

PROTOTYPE (USA)

This band rose from the ashes of Psychosis (see the review a few lines below). The style is not as hard-hitting, but no less impressive, being progressive power/thrash metal with a jazz-like complex song-writing and some very aggressive riffs. "Cloned" is a very promising start, especially after the strong opener, which will crush you with its heavy, but also very technical riffs. The music is slower than the one offered on the only Psychosis album, but is much more complex, with many non-traditional elements, including acoustic, surreal moments, which later acts like Opeth would make their staple. The shorter songs work better, whereas the complexity of the longer ones might be confusing to some.
"Trinity" is a letdown; the concentration is on elaborate, progressive song-structures and the biting thrashy riffs which ruled on the EP, have been decreased quite a bit. Again the short tracks carry the genuine aggressive charge of the album: "By Breeze"; the acoustic passages are even more, but this is hardly a complaint, as they work quite well combined with the rest.
"Continuum" is a convincing return to form, with thrash metal taking the upper hand once again; the complexity of the songs is still there, but this time the riff attack never stops, except on the dreamy progressive number "Devotion", and the short acoustic ballad "Undying". At the end there is a great remastered version of the best song from the Psyschosis album "Cold is This God".

Cloned EP, 1998
Trinity Full-length, 2001
Continuum Full-length, 2006

PROVOCATEUR (UKRAINE)

Typical modern thrash/death metal combining melodic with brutal sections the latter not that frequent playing a secondary role to the former which are very close to the ones used on the mid-period In Flames albums.

No Time To Trust Some EP, 2009

PROWLER (SWEDEN)

The debut demo: 3 songs of prime retro thrash ala Razor and Slayer, so expect fast aggressive music with very fuzzy guitars and noisy drums. The "radioactive" theme goes on unabated (and perhaps unresolved) on the "The Plutonium School Lunch Massacre" demo, but the musicianship has jumped quite a notch, and the annoying buzz of the guitars has been gone completely. Instead, the guys have concentrated on ripping classic thrash metal, not far style-wise from the material offered on the debut demo, but here the guitars simply crush easily reaching the intensity of "Shotgun Messiah" and "Eternal Nightmare": "Green Glowing Death" will shatter your skull, a pure headbanging delight all the way with a short relieving crossover break in the middle. "Operation Reinhard" (there are only two songs here) is another lasher mixing sections in a more relaxed speedy manner with more technical ones producing a few nice melodic hooks in-between. As a whole we have a competent more diverse, almost progressive, take on the retro thrash metal idea topped by gruff intelligible semi-declamatory vocals which are certainly more suitable for the more direct approach, and some improvement in this departemnt on the eventual full-length would do no harm to this talented outfit.

The Radioactive Demo Demo, 2009
The Plutonium School Lunch Massacre Demo, 2010

PROWLER (USA)

Pretty decent power/speed/thrash metal EP along the lines of Attacker and Aftermath, which also features one fast, aggressive, less than a minute thrasher ("In Your Boots"), and a more melodic closer sounding like a more aggressive Motorhead ("Lick The Knife").

Prowling Death Squad EP, 1988

Vibrations of Doom

PROZAK (ARGENTINA)

Quite good 80's thrash with hardcore tendencies, but not very fast or intense, with catchy riffs, melodic hooks, even genuine technical elements (the opening riffs on "Tortura"). Power/heavy metal tendencies sneak through ("Circo del Horror"), but they only nicely add to the overall jolly mood, especially when they come accompanied by cool speed metal outbursts ("Pogo, Ronda, Mosh").

Circo Del Horror Demo, 2008

PSICOSIS (CHILE)

Swedish thrash/death metal hybrid made in Chile; this is a really good band, sounding like a more technical version of Dark Tranquillity.

Hate Regressions EP, 2002
The Crippled Machine that moves the World Full-length, 2004

PSORIASIS (FRANCE)

Very good technical thrash/death metal, fast and intense, similar to mid-period Carcass, but the guys' bigger experimentalism jumps out on the longer tracks ("Draining Out", which winds like a snake through several moods and tempos), and their style is perhaps more jumpy and less predictable, like on the diverse "Human Testing", which suddenly moves from very aggressive sections to peaceful balladic ones. The typical for the Brits grinding parts are not many at all ("A Cannibal Inside" and "Cranial Gangrene" come to mind, being very brutal takes on technical death/grind, and parts of "Furuncles and Boil"), and the rest is either more thrash ("Great Order of Decline"), or more death ("Fisting Dick")-fixated, as the technical edge never gets lost, maybe only on the direct bashing "Furuncles and Boil". "Let There Be Rot" is a stylish exit from this very satisfying effort, being quite an intriguing technical affair, starting as a furious technical death feast, before taking a much more controlled direction, transforming into vortex-like thrash ala Coroner and Deathrow, with the outro being high-octane doomy riffage.

Lethal Treatment Full-length, 2009

PSYCHIC PAWN (BRAZIL)

The demo is 3 songs of forceful semi-technical thrash/death metal with Morbid Angel (including attempts at the latter's legendary backward play) an obvious influence, although the music here is never too fast, and the leads are particularly stylish with Shrapnel overtones, even recalling the wild technical shred of the Russian virtuoso Valerii Gaina (Kruiz). "Perils Of Deformity" is probably the highlight, a potent mix of raging lashing riffs and contrasting slow doomy ones. The guys suddenly switched onto much more melodic power metal later in the 90's with their new formation Born of Fire.

Wake of Entity Demo, 1992
Decadent Delirium Full-length, 1994

PSYCHIC POSSESSOR (BRAZIL)

This band easily stood out of the pack of Brazilian thrash metal bands in the late-80's. "Toxin Diffusion" was a smasher with its furious mixture of brutal thrash/death metal ala Sarcofago and Vulcano and some great thrash/crossover. The follow-up is a big disappointment, though, with the thrash/death elements completely gone, and the band settling for blatant mid-paced hardcore with very few traces of metal, not too far from the early works of Ratos De Porao, but not nearly half as good. It's really sad since the band have shown so much promise on their first album.

Toxin Diffusion Full-length, 1988
N+s Somos a Am+rica do Sul Full-length, 1989

Vibrations of Doom

PSYCHITHROB (CANADA)

This band was formed by Steve Cloutier who later pulled the strings in the technical death metal monsters Gorguts. Based on the "Bursting Dementia" 4-song demo, the style here is thrash metal with touches of death, and these guys pull out awesome heavy, and at the same time technical, riffs which result in a very intense sound. In the faster sections comparisons with Atheist are inevitable, but the music offers much more. Such heavy technical music is not easy to compare; probably the Infernal Majesty debut without the speedy parts would be a distant reference point. Cloutier does a great job on the bass, but the others are by no means worse. With technical metal having always been highly regarded in Canada, it's a complete mystery how this band remained just an underground phenomenon...

Advanced Tape Demo, 1990
Bursting Dementia Demo, 1991

PSYCHO (SINGAPORE)

This young Singaporean outfir offers pretty decent old school thrash metal with scary witch-like vocals. the album starts in a relatively calm mid-paced thrashy pace, until "Meat Slit Grinder" which arrives with brutal death metal blasts in the beginning. Shocking moemnts of the kind, however, are not many at all the folks preferring to play in the aforementioned steam-roller mid-tempo casually adding the odd technical flavour ("Revenge Of The Raging Whore"). Near the end the approach becomes more intense, with references to doom/death on the last three songs, where the guitars start to really crush coming close to the formidable battle approach of Bolt Thrower.

Pain Addict Pigs Full-length 2011

PSYCHO CHOKE (GREECE)

Based on the EP, these guys offer melodic post-thrash with a more angry (End of My Kingdom") at times, but also alternative edge, the latter also coming from the cool clean mid-ranged vocals, which are intercepted by much more aggressive semi-death metal ones on some songs. "Darwin Breed" at the end speeds up with an abrasive hardcore shade.
"Unraveling Chaos" is a better affair, more aggressive and dynamic, although the overall approach is again in the post-thrash camp, supported by the vocal "duel" already familiar from the previous efforts. There are scattered up-tempo moments to be heard, but most of the time the music bears no surprises being heavy, groovy, and occasionally jumpy.

Choke On This Full-length, 2002
The Last Moments of Absence EP, 2007
Unraveling Chaos Full-length, 2010

PSYCHO DEMENZ (JAPAN)

A 2-song demo: "Death Desire And Ruin" is a dark intense thrasher in the Deathwish vein, whereas "Confusion" is a more aggressive piece in the spirit of early Pestilence. The vocals are death metal-ish, sounding like a lower-pitched version of John Tardy.

Demo 1 Demo, 1989

PSYCHO SYMPHONY (ROMANIA)

This is very eclectic progressive thrash which sounds like a mix of Mekong Delta, Voivod and Psychotic Waltz; another very close soundalike would be the Japanese avantgarde thrashers Doom. Despite the many abstract and dream-like moments, the music delivers the goods most of the time as the band never forget that above all they are a thrash metal band, although this is not a headbanging material, and the music is mid-tempo to slow, with the exception of "Shadow of Life", which is more intense and straight (well, this is very relative here) number, which still has a very complex technical break in the middle where great bass work can be heard (the bass performance is generally very good on the whole album). The songs, as expected, are long, with loads of moods and time-changes; the last song "Reality Falls", which is 2 parts, and is more than 11-min long, is a symphony of surreal atmospheric progressive music with a sparce participation of thrash, but quite interesting and unusual. Very non-conventional surreal riffs and almost absurd, but very listenable, song-structures are featured all over this work; recommended to those who prefer to fully concentrate on their music.

The EP is another very weird effort. It's only 2 songs, the first one "Strange Illusion" being shorter, but very intricate and sinister, even including quite cool fast-paced headbanging elements among the numerous surreal abstract passages; as expected, there is so much to be heard here that everyone should listen to it for himself. "Purple Coloured Kingdom" is a 12-min "symphony" of "psychotic" progressive thrash, creepy and doomy, with echoes of Mekong Delta and Psychotic Waltz, with hard-hitting riffage present as well; the peaceful dreamy interlude is a bit overlong, but wait till you hear the twisted jazzy tunes which follow after, and the technical break ala Coroner near the end. Then more aggression comes before the minimalistic doomy thrash riffage wraps it up nicely. If one wants to listen to really non-conventional progressive avantgarde metal, this is one of the best choices he could make (make sure to check the Italians Garden Wall as well). But one has to be prepared for this...

Silent Fall Full-length, 1997
Schizoid EP, 2002

PSYCHODEATH (USA)

Two guys, who also had another band at the same time called Ferocity (not reviewed here), provide brutal Slayer-esque thrash metal with frequent heavier insertions ala early Celtic Frost the latter descending to doom here and there. The sound quality is pretty raw, and the singer growls in a terrible drunken, very unintellgible, way.

Final Expiration Demo, 1989

PSYCHOMANCER (USA)

Based on "Butchered": this is quite a worthy mix of thrash and death metal of the more classic type, which might remind you of Deicide on the more brutal parts (not too many). On the more technical sections another Floridian band comes to mind: Morbid Angel. Hey, this is not full-fledged death metal; there are enough thrashy riffs to keep you interested: "The Hessian", "Eternal Nightmare". The vocals are of the dual variety: think early Carcass, low-tuned brutal ones and mean crow-like snarls.

(Si-Ko-Man-Sur) Full-length, 2001
Butchered Full-length, 2007

PSYCHOPATH (USA)

Quite good technical death/thrash metal reminiscent of Revenant and Assorted Heap, with shades of Coroner (the magnificent technical number "Without a Clue" would fit even onto "Mental Vortex"; it actually resembles quite a lot a track from that album: "Semtex Revolution"). The guys mix the tempo nicely: at times we have very choppy and technical rhythms, at others the music speeds up, seldom reaching extreme aggression (parts from "Performing A Self- Discovery"), both well presented on the album closer "Crystal Clear". There are sinister atmospheric moments as well as spacey acoustic ones, but they intertwine with the sharp technical riffs just fine, and the overall sound has this dark quality also typical for the aforementioned bands, especially Assorted Heap.
The debut demo is already an intriguing technical affair, sounding surprisingly close to Atheist's debut released the same year, well more death metal-oriented, unlike the full-length debut which followed a year later. The songs develop around jumpy, complex arrangements, but cuts like "Altered Minds" and "Physics" will make you mosh like mad. "Unearthly Horror" and "Metroshock" are early examples of twisted technical death metal, very well done, suffering only from the very bad sound quality, and the strained vocal, shouty death metal delivery.

The Soul Personification Demo, 1990
Making The Transition Full-length, 1991

PSYCHOPATHIC TERROR (FINLAND)

A classic mix of thrash and death metal, done by just two guys, quite fast reminiscent of the Protector works of the 90's, but with a more simplistic guitar work. The vocals are pretty much in the vein of the aforementioned band; the guys take a break from their relentless style only once: on the mid-paced stomping number "Dead Man Walking" which will remind you of recent Bolt Thrower. Before forming this act, the musicians were known under the name Depravity in the early-90's when they released a couple of demos and EP's of classic death metal.
"230204" is pretty much in the same vein if we exclude the harsh abrasive guitar sound. The faster material now is pure death metal again staying close to Protector and the early Swedish school (Unleashed, Entombed, etc.), whereas the slower numbers are vintage mid-period Bolt Thrower full of steam-rolling battle-like riffs. Both sides are mixed almost song by song to produce a nice tribute to the old school with a boosted modern production.
"Revolt" would be quite a shock to the band fans: the convincing old school delivery has mutated into pure industrial thrash with synthesized guitars, techno/electronic moments, atmospheric inclusions ala Front Line Assembly, etc. As a work of the modern art it delivers almost as good as Skrew and Ministry at their best, but its value to the retro sound is practically zero...

Fucker Full-length, 2006
230204 Full-length, 2008
Revolt Full-length, 2011

PSYCHOSIS (USA, LOS ANGELES, CA)

A masterpiece of classic technical thrash akin to mid-period Accuser, early Testament and late-80's period Metallica; there are only 6 tracks on offer here, but this is more than enough for high quality music like this; the sound is very riff-based, and will delight you with its great head-banging potential. The lead guitar work is less impressive, but it doesn't take too much room here. The tempo is never too fast, and stays more in the mid-paced sector. The highlight of the album is the excellent "Cold is This God": a first rate riff-fest. The vocals are levelled, semi-clean, coming as a fusion of Chuck Billy and James Hetfield. The band disappeared the way they came up: unheralded, but with their name remembered, at least by those who spend time digging in the metal underground. Their legacy is now being carried on by another very good formation: Prototype (see the review a few lines above), featuring two members of Psychosis.
An underground legend rises with a short self-titled 3-song EP which shows them in a cool form lashing razor-sharp music crossing the modern and the classic school on a heavy mid-tempo base with shades of the Black Album, but hopefully on the eventual full-length release the band would be able to go further down the classic hole.

Lifeforce Full-length, 1992
Psychosis EP, 2010

PSYCHOSIS (USA, NASHUA, NH)

"Complex" is a waste of time, even for the 90's trends' lovers; it offers nothing but clumsy stoner/doomy riffs mixed with rehashed groovy patterns on every single song; no deviation, no faster moments, just major boredom, only relieved (but partially) by the cool soulful Peter Steele (R.I.P.)-like insertions which intercept at times the main throaty angry vocals.
The debut is a bit better effort, although it has already included the 90's fashions trying to sit somewhere between Flotsam & Jetsam's "Quatro" and the Pantera releases around the same time resulting in a pretty intense heavy sound with doomy overtones and shades of blues. The vocalist doesn't hide his fascination with Phil Anselmo adding a more lyrical, melodic note on occasion.

Squirm Full-length, 1993
Complex Full-length, 1996

PSYCHOSOMATIC (USA)

Very good thrash/crossover, similar to the Suicidal Tendencies' more thrashy releases (1988-1990), and Excel. This is fast-paced energetic music with very occasional heavy stomping deviations ("Drunken") with a doom metal edge; great fun, with short, 1-2min songs, and really meaty thrashy riffs.
"The Unquenchable Thirst" is more aggressive with an open hardcore edge at times and pure thrashy outbursts ("Electrocuted" which even blast-beats for a while). The short length of the songs remains as well as the cool mean-ish semi-clean vocals.
"Another Disease" is another addition to the thrash/crossover mill thrashing its way out with direct vigorous riffage with Slayer touched ("Despotic Leader", "Skaterade") on the more aggressive parts. The other material mixes slow and fast sections the purer hardcore passages now not so clearly heard. "Misery Mirror" is an odd doomy track, a pretty slow number by the guys' standards, but gradually building momentum to become an effective sleeper with an abrasive quasi-industrial flavour. The drowsiness will leave you big time on the following "Sociopathic Child", which is a short explosive proto-deathster. Bluesy doom comes served later on with "Stormbringer" to a slightly mixed effect, since the guys betray their style once more. The last string of fast, uncompromising blitzkriegers apologizes for those "lapses", moshing out in a more stripped hardcore fashion.

Tales Of The Unbelievably Cheap Full-Length, 1999
The Unquenchable Thirst Full-length, 2006
Another Disease Full-length, 2010

PSYCHOTIC EYES (BRAZIL)

Based on "I Only Smile Behind the Mask", this Brazilian outfit indulges in fairly intriguing melodic/technical death/thrash with loads of catchy melodic hooks, some of which are simply addictive to listen to. The shadow of later-period Death can definitely be felt, although this is mostly thrash with prorbably just the vocals belonging to the death metal camp, being mean-ish with a harsh semi-blacky blend. The compositions are all elaborate listens with plenty of mood and tempo changes, several lyrical moments, and again numerous melodic lines which will never bore the fan, who shouldn't expect too much speed present, but mostly directed mid-paced meandering of the beautiful, dreamy variety. The final "The Girl" is a cool progressive cut of the calmer, semi-balladic type, but overflows with emotion and atmosphere, and could be viewed the highlight on this really strong effort.
The debut is another great release, featuring the same appetizing elements present on the follow-up. The approach is a bit faster, but melody and technicality are not spared anywhere. The title-track is a great minimalistic technicaller with echoes of Coroner, and "Black Lotus" shows how speed and technicality can co-exist without disturbing each other. But this is not all, since right after that comes "Carnage is My Name", which is a prime shredder in the best spirit of later-period Death. Twisted technicality and melody "marry" on the excellent puzzler "The Hand of Fate", which also comes epic-decorated. No time here for any more straight-forward sections, except maybe on the more deathy "The Logic of Deterrence", which in its turn arrives with the most stylish lead guitar work on the album. "Psychotic I: remember" is an engaging operatic closer, a nice atmospheric touch which only adds up to the unique character of this really cool work.

Psychotic Eyes Full-length, 2007
I Only Smile Behind the Mask Full-length, 2011

PSYCHOTIC PULSE (CANADA)

3 sogs of intense, but melodic, modern Gothenburg thrash/death metal; the music is fast with several slower deviations and quite cool melodic lead guitar work. The influences are as follows...

Handcrafting the Apocalypse EP, 2010

PSYCHOTIC WALTZ (USA)

This legendary progressive metal band used a strong thrashy base in their beginnings, better expressed on the excellent debut. "And The Devil Cried" after all these years remains one of the finest progressive thrashers: a dark complex song with its steel technical riffs, creepy, haunting tunes, and jumpy, sudden time-changes. Although this track is the album's highlight and the most aggressive one, the rest is by no means less striking: the multi-layered dark "Another Prophet Song", featuring one of the finest performances of Buddy Lackey; the doomy crushing "Halo of Thorns"; the magnificent ballad "I Remember", with Lackey again in top form. The guys create a unique sound, heavy and mid-paced, with numerous vortex-like passages, starting out of nowhere, suddenly turning into a more direct one which is followed by a more atmospheric slower, almost doomy, section: check out the great labyrinthine "In This Place", or the superb intense (no pun intended) thrashing "Intense" with some of the finest spiral-like leads around. This is one of the undisputable masterpieces of progressive metal which made it impossible for the guys to ever produce anything better.

"Into the Everflow" is not even close to the debut. Intense thrashing elaborate pieces, like the chaotic, but utterly compelling "Out of Mind" are truly impressive, but are not too many; they are actually placed in the beginning ("Tiny Streams" is another technical, head-spinning piece), leaving the rest of the album hanging in the air. "Into the Everflow" is a quiet dreamy balladic progressive track, quite good, but are we talking metal here? "Little People" restores the faith with more aggressive riffage, but is far from the examples from the beginning. "Butterfly" is similar to "Into the Everflow", but at least the guys here insert more edgy guitars. Still, it shows that the band have moved on, and their later works have no ties to thrash, although they remain some of the best moments from the progressive metal arena.

A Social Grace Full-length, 1990
Into the Everflow Full-length, 1992

PSYCHOTRON (GERMANY)

One of the most promising German metal bands of recent times; their style is slightly progressive power/thrash metal not too far from Nevermore, but the guitar work often shifts towards straight Bay-Area riffs. The guys handle both the more direct thrashers and the more complex longer songs with dexterity. "Chaos Cosmic Time" opens in a marvellous way with the pounding technical thrasher "Psychotron", one of the band's highest achievements, but later on the album loses steam containing much less impressive ordinary progressive power metal tracks, falling down even to modern groove ("Eternal Stream", "The Raging Pit"). In the second half the quality song-writing returns for one complex power/thrasher ("Belief"), but the presence of two ballads: one- heavy, the other a pure acoustic piece, pull the final impression away from the positive scale.

4 years later the band were ready to strike again, but this time they have done a much better job; from the very beginning this album starts thrashing with force and conviction ("Open the Gate") with great sharp, but also technical riffs, with a certain Bay-Area vibe (think early Testament and Forbidden, above all) again. The thrash attack continues unabated further on, as the complexity increases little by little, reaching its culmination on the progressive masterpieces "Closed Doors", which is a slower, more power metal-based, atmospheric number, and "Lightbringer", which is a striking dark power/thrasher, followed by another equally as impressive, shorter one: "Necromantia". Having finished their job so well, the guys relax on the album closer, which is an 8-min haunting acoustic instrumental, partially spoiled by the drunken attempts at singing made at the end.

After such a strong effort, a well-deserved break would be natural to follow suit, but the guys were ready with another stellar material less than a year later; "Pray For Salvation" follows a path similar to the previous album, but the music is not as fast and energetic, but is more complex, and the riffs lash with the same intensity, as separate compositions are superior to the previous output: the dark technical power/thrashterpiece in the Nevermore vein "Chasing Shadows", the mighty technical thrash metal opus with an Oriental touch "Circle of the Damned", the brooding doomy "The Awakening", the intense speed/thrashing delight "Life on Borrowed Time". The end is again preserved for something more quiet: the ballad "Shattered Illusion". If Courageous, the other German band who used to play a similar brand of metal, have failed to please the fans with their more recent works, this band, on the opposite, are going stronger and stronger...

Chaos Cosmic Time Full-length, 2000
Open The Gate Full-length, 2004
Pray For Salvation Full-length, 2005

PSYCHOTRON (POLAND)

Based on the full-length: angry heavy 90's thrash which is pretty intense for most of the time th eintensity dissipated at times by stylish melodic leads to a positive effect ("The Caravan"). Occasional displays of bad taste are not spared (the awful funky/rap atrocity "Ponoc"), but the headbangers, on the other hand, will be stunned to hear the brutal neckbreaker "Black Angel" at the end. The guys started their career under the name Slaver, when they played speed metal, before moving onto thrash with their 2nd formation Thrasher Death. However, any classic "remnants" from that band's sound are hard to trace here.

Violence Full-length 1995
Perverse Tango EP 1997
The Grave Doctors EP 1998

PSYCLOPS (HOLLAND)

This is decent modern thrash metal with industrial overtones which make the guitars too noisy at times. The approach is close to Swamp Terrorists and early Misery Loves Co. the guys thrashing really hard at times ("Future = History") without losing the catchiness anywhere. "Wrong Song" is a great steam-rolling thrasher, but "Not Yet" is hardly the best continuation of the "saga" being a soft balladic piece. "Never" after that rips like there's no tomorrow, and "Live Your Life" keeps the headbanging going which even goes up on the maddening "Pulverize". This is a perfectly acceptable piece of industrial music well conformed with the demands of this sub-genre without sticking to annoying non-music industrial landscapes too much even managing to keep quite a bit of melody along the way with entertaining high-strung semi-shouty vocals being a nice support.

The Psyclops Concept Demo, 2000

PSYCOREPATHS (GREECE)

3 songs of dynamic modern post-thrash with sharp lashing riffs which don't cross over the mid-tempo (except for the beginning of "U Don't Get Ma Money" which is quite headbanging), but the consistent delivery pays off with a heavy monolithic sound ably supported by the typical for the style angry shouty vocals.

Your Entropia Has Arrived Demo, 2011

PSYKOSIS (IRELAND)

3 songs of energetic old school speed/thrash; "Toxic Fugitive" is a brisk vigorous speedster; "Terror at 3 A.M." is a nice galloper in the American spirit; and "Bonestorm" is a heavy mid-paced Bay-Area thrasher which could perfectly fit on "Fabulous Disaster"; great Oriental motives are also there well embedded with the consistent main riffage. The singer delivers with his hoarse semi-clean tone which at his best comes close to Chuck Billy.
The full-length is out, but it would come a s a surprise

Toxic TerrorStorm Demo, 2010

PSYKOSIS (USA)

Modern thrash/death wich is a very diverse listen, also borrowing from doom, gothic, post-thrash, crossover, and more. The sound quality is pretty bad, giving the guitars a screamy, noisy edge which gets even more irritating under the awful, unrehearsed shouty death metal vocals. There is certainly some energy at display, and here and there one can catch the odd more technical riff ("Therapy"; the Meshuggah-sque jumper "Just a Mask"), but it all comes too messy in the end, with so many nuances inserted, including several short balladic interludes.

Psykosis Full-Length, 2011

PUBLIC ASSASSIN (USA)

This band's line-up features Richard Christy: the drummer who has also taken part in several more renowned bands around the metal spectre (Control Denied, Iced Earth, Burning Inside). With this band he plays thrash/death metal with technical tendencies, stomping and heavy most of the time, with sudden jumps into more aggressive waters, along the lines of early Morbid Angel, but less dynamic and more thrash-fixated.

Public Assassin EP, 1993

PULENTOR (CHILE)

Raw amateurish thrashcore with grind and punk very close "neighbours"; noisy unrehearsed stuff creating the impression that the guys are completely drunk when recording it with very badly tuned instruments and not a single musical idea in mind. Later the band changed their name to Belial, and started playing more sensible music of the death/grindcore variety, and have 3 full-lengths released so far.

Demo Demo, 1989

PULLING TEETH (JAPAN)

This band was founded by Shinichi Suzuki-the singer who has done services in other Japanese thrash metal bands: Cocobat, Lawshed, etc. Based on "Martyr Immortal", his new band does a better job than the aforementioned acts, playing classic fast-paced thrash with short, 1-2min songs, similar to Hirax and the Swedes F.K.U. Despite the short length of the songs, there are barely shades of hardcore, except on the very short tracks, where even proto-grindcore sections could be caught. The album closer "Dismissed in Time" is a break from the intensity displayed earlier, and is an offbeat acoustic ambient instrumental.

"Thrash Cats" is a less satisfying effort; it's not too far stylistically from "Martyr Immortal", but the sound borders on hardcore quite a bit. The songs are again short and direct, but the thrashy riffs are not that sharp. The approach is too one-dimensional, and there is little more than pure bashing of the hardcore type. These "cats" are far from thrash for sure...

NWOJHM Full-length, 1999
MTJ Full-length, 2000
Pulling Joke Full-length, 2001
For whom the Teeth Pulled? Full-length, 2003
Thrash Cats Full-length, 2006
Martyr Immortal Full-Length, 2007

PULLING TEETH (USA)

A prolific young act who, from their melodic thrash/crossover beginnings, have moved towards the melo-death/thrash metal spectre, as evident from their latest offering "Fuerary". Certainly, reminders of their roots are present kind of retouching the intensity of the other material, which comes seriously "buried" on the monumental 10-min funeral doom opus "Funerary", very appropriately-titled, by the way, cancelling the energetic, but pretty mish-mashy 1st part. The doom metal saga carries on with the melancholic My Dying Bride-sque "At Peace", and from this moment till the end we have doom metal epics, quite well done, but a total contrast to the much faster 1st half. This is an uneven album which shows the guys producing a sound more appealing when they play it slower, and a future transition into a full-fledged doom metal act would not be a bad idea at all.

Vicious Skin Full-length 2006
Witches Sabbath Vol. 02 EP 2007
Witches Sabbath 01 EP 2007
Martyr Immortal Full-length 2007
Witches' Sabbath vol. III EP 2008
Witches Sabbath 05 EP 2009
Paranoid Delusions | Paradise Illusions Full-length 2009
Witches Sabbath IV EP 2009
Funerary Full-length 2011

PUNCTURE (USA)

This band was formed by two members of Gammacide. The style presented here is miles away from the aggressive old school thrash of the old band. This is heavy crunchy modern post-thrash with a strong industrial edge; some more speedy parts actually remind of Gammacide, but most of the time the music is crushing sounding like a more aggressive version of Pantera.

Puncture Full-length, 1994
Immune Full-length, 1996

PUNISH (CANADA)

Very typical for the time groovy post-thrash, industrialzed at times, a heavy monotonous affair with a few very stylish melodic leads contrasting to the ordinary heavy repetitive riffs. "Right From Wrong" is quite a surprise in the middle serving more intelligent semi-technical thrash in a much faster pace, and "Desensitized" may make you pay more attention being a cool moody groover ala 90's Prong with a few edgier moments, but the rest will hardly make you very happy, maybe the closing thrashy section from the last song "Individual" would also be another one, although one may get angry there for not hearing such intense music earlier.

State Of Grace Full-length, 1995

PUNISHER (USA)

Crunchy, somewhat technical thrash with a great bass work similar to Steve Digiorgio; the vocals are from the death-type. The songs are long-ish elaborate, but the guys manage to keep things interesting throughout. The sound is strictly modern with a shade of groove, and there are times where the music takes off towards more aggressive territories ("Beaten Down"), but again supported by choppy technical guitar work. The guys try to keep the songs dynamic, and succeed, since the music never slows down a lot. The guitars have this dry mechanical sound, typical for the Voivod works with Eric Forrest, and Meshuggah, but these guys' music has also shades of the classic times, like the excellent energetic technical thrashers "Spirit of Vengeance" and "Weapon X". "In Cold Blood" shows the more ambitious side of the band, but the reduced speed and the slightly heavy-handed riffs, which evolve around a slow-ish progressive basis, lessen the impact. Near the end the guys take it easy with two more immediate headbanging pieces: "Loser" and "Eternal Democracy". The last track "Punisher" is a sudden, but a very satisfying, move onto aggressive thrash/death metal, fast and relentless, still retaining a certain technical edge, especially on the stylish ending.

Disillusioned Full-length, 1998

PUNISHMENT (BRAZIL)

Based on the "Enter The Punisher" demo, this is retro up-tempo thrash with death metal vocals: one is of the low brutal growl, the other of the snarly type. Music-wise the band recalls Protector, especially when they speed up ("The Man is Crazy", "The Doom", which contains blast-beats near the end), which doesn't happen very often; and Ghoul, with whom they share the catchiness and playfulness of the guitar work.

Infernal World Demo, 2002
Enter The Punisher Demo, 2006

PUNO DE HIERRO (MEXICO)

These guys had done a pretty good job on their only album: this is a nice combination of power/speed and thrash metal; the faster tracks will remind you of early Helloween, Warrant and Vectom, whereas the slower heavier ones are close to the American school: think Helstar, early Laaz Rockit, Savage Grace. The guitar performance is of a particularly high level with nice technical leads which would perhaps make even Kai Hansen turn his head. At the time when this album was released, this kind of music was quickly fading away, and the band have made a good attempt at keeping it alive a bit longer.

Ten fe en Dios (Overtura de Metal) Full-length, 1990

PURE HATE (POLAND)

Based on the "This Is The War" demo: this band offers a cool mixture of thrash and hardcore with a decidedly modern sound recalling more recent Pro-Pain, but less edgy, and with non-typical melodic leads, plus the occasional more intense thrasher ("Who Cares").
The full-length is an elaboration on the approach heard earlier on the demos mixing thrash and hardcore without speeding up too much which may bore the listener at some point because of the frequent heavy pounding guitars despite the cool melodic licks gracing at least half of the songs, and are a really stark contrast to the gruff semi-death metal vocals.

My Enemy Demo, 2006
This Is The War Demo, 2007
Hate Is Coming Full-length, 2009

PURE SWEET HELL (USA)

This band is a side project of the Nevermore drummer Van Williams who takes over the vocal duties here, too (and does a very good job, by the way). The sound is not anywhere near Nevermore, perhaps only occasionally. There is a wide variety of styles presented here: thrash, black, gothic, doom, industrial, post-thrash, etc. At times the band might remind you of some bands from the death/gothic field, like Trail Of Tears or The Project Hate, mixed with modern thrash.
"Spitting At The Stars" develops within the confines of modern post-thrash almost enrirely, the heavy guitar tone still echoing Nevermore, but the rest has a certain dark alternative vibe, the more aggressive shred only casually showing up: the dramatic pounder "Architect"; the atmospheric lasher "Echoes Of The End", which boasts a faster-paced passage and very good leads. "Regret" is a potent creepy doom/thrasher, which leaves its mark on the remaining numbers, which "march" forward with sinister hammering riffs, "Beside A God" stealing the show with its whirlwind-like finish; the final "Coldest Winter" not too far behind, being a cool atmospheric ballad. The vocals are in the semi-undustrial/semi-shouty category, pulling out a surprisingly good peformance on the several more lyrical, balladic moments ("Created").

The Voyeurs Of Utter Destruction As Beauty Full-length, 2003
Spitting At The Stars Full-length, 2011

PURGATORY (CHINA)

These Chinese play brutal thrash/death with echoes of black metal which displays good musicianship, despite its pretty fast, blasting nature. Things get a more controlled shape on the long sprawling "Blood Flooding In Coldnight" in the middle, which loses all the speed there was before, settling for heavy, doomy arrangements wrapped in a nice progressive atmosphere. This composition is like "an oasis" among the aggressive rest, which becomes weirdly technical on the stylish proto-blaster "Retaliation from Dead" and on the jumpy, mostly mid-tempo, closer "Seventh Element", which is vintage mid-period Carcass, including in the dual vocal field. This is good, thoughtout music which main flaw is the very short length, barely going over half an hour.

Power Of Evilly Full-Length, 2007

PURGATORY (UK)

This band, like their more famous compatriots Hydra Vein, look for inspiration towards Germany, but they also add more pounding parts, strangely recalling Venom, but their 90's efforts, after the reformation. The music softens a bit at times ("Messenger of Fear") paying tribute to the NWOBHM wave, but most of the time it is cool thrashy stuff, if we also exclude the 1.5-min instrumental "F.L.T." .

F.L.T. Demo, 1988

PURGATORY (USA, OH)

Purgatory belong to the more melodic side of the speed/thrash/power metal genre, with a style which brings to mind several German bands: Warrant, Iron Angel (the second album), Tyrant, even early Helloween. This is good stuff, especially when the guys pull out the casual cool technical riff, which doesn't happen very often, but keeps the listener concentrated to eventually hear something more of the same.

Tied to the Trax Full-Length, 1986

PURGATORY (USA, TX)

Heavy mid-paced power/thrash metal akin to Flotsam & Jetsam's "Cuatro", predating their more famous compatriots' work with a whole year, but not as good; worth of note are the sneaking modern 90's tendencies which very soon after took over the scene completely.

Demo Demo, 1991

PURGED (AUSTRALIA)

Based on the debut: this album is a typical "product" of its time: modern 90's thrash in the Pantera and Machine Head vein, but this is more melodic with stoner/doom elements ("Divided Faith") inserted reminding of Phil Anselmo's side project Down.

Form Of Release Full-length, 1997
Balance of Power Full-length, 1999

PURITAN (BRAZIL)

Based on the full-length, this Brazilian trio offer choppy modern thrash with several more technical pretensions, but also with a few metalcore "interludes" present. The singer is a scary death metal growler, and his rendings don't quite fit the mellower musical background. The riffs change from fast to mid-paced and hectic, and create the impression that the guys are really busy to produce something more stylish, but the short songs (2-3min), among other obstacles, don't leave them many chances to realise that.

O Firme Fundamento Do Desespero Incessante Full-length, 2009
Faixa de Gaza Full-length, 2011

PURITY (FINLAND)

Based on "Built", this band offers 90's alternative power/post-thrash metal which is far from the derivative groovy efforts of thousands of acts at that time, but opts for a darker, Black Album-like sound, spiced with more jumpy intense riffage ala 90's Flotsam & Jetsam. So more dynamic thrashers like "Dead End Street" shouldn't come as a surprise, but they are not so many, and at some point the album may bore you, sticking to samey chugga-chugga riffage, and sudden switches onto laid-back, Alice in Chains-like tunes. There are stoner/doom, balladic and bluesy moments as well to make the cocktail even bigger. From the 90's perspective this work is not completely illogical, but the contemporary fan might not be very entertained.

In Disguise EP, 1994
Built Full-length, 1996
Dear Evilyn Full-length, 2004

PURITY (GERMANY)

Based on the "Burning Sky" demo, this band plays heavy modern-ish post-thrash, mostly mid-tempo, with aggressive death metal elements and atmospheric gothic passages ("Broken Wings"). The final result is not bad, and there are very few bands out there at the moment who sound like them.

Silence Demo, 2006
Burning Sky Demo, 2006

PURITY 96 (FINLAND)

Typical for the time and age modern post-thrash offering with grunge and alternative borrowings, plus one nice take on atmospheric heavy doom ("Exit/Enter"), which however comes second to the energetic more classic-sounding "splash" "Dead End Street" in the middle. "Lost" is a curious quasi-progressive doom/thrasher with a quirky rhythm section, and the closer "For My Godson" is a short acoustic ballad which could be considered an allusion to Metallica's same year's "Mama Said".

Built Full-Length, 1996

PUSSY HOLE TREATMENT (PORTUGAL)

Modern fast thrashcore with simplistic punk-tinged riffs, which give a cool melodic "decoration" to the tracks at times, and rending shouty vocals.

Destroy Everything Now Full-Length, 2010

PUT' SOLNTSA (RUSSIA)

Thrash and death meet epic and pagan metal on this varied affair. The concentration is clearly on the first two styles, and the delivery is frequently fast and brutal. The singer is an intense death metal growler seldom accompanied by nice female vocals. There are a few slow melodic instrumentals thrown in, and some of the fast moments border on hardcore. The band members are involved in several other projects: the grindcore "freaks" Educated Scum, the brutal death metal "monsters" Fatal Band, the death/thrash metal outfit Eternal Sick, and the symphonic black metal formation Sinful.
"Veter" carries on with the wild mixture this time sticking to death/thrashy hardcore more which gets openly brutal and chaotic ("Veter") on occasion. The slower epic elements are only slightly hinted at for the sake of the super-fast moments which boldly venture into death/grind.

Pobeditel Vsegda Ostaetsa Odin Full-length, 2010
Veter Full-Length, 2011

PUTA REALIDAD (ARGENTINA)

Aggressive violent thrash/crossover with frequent stretches towards pure hardcore, with noisy shouty semi-death metal vocals; a not very welcome addition are the heavy groovy moments which sometimes turn to whole tracks, although those same tracks seldom go over the 2/2.5-min range. The guitar work is not bad providing sharp lashing riffs the whole time, although there are almost no leads to be heard.

Conciencia o Muerte Full-length, 2008

PUTRID BLOOD (SERBIA)

A cool promo of retro headbanging thrash with angry semi-hardcore vocals; the music delivers with sharp semi-technical riffs, good lead guitar, and energetic up-tempos. The guys are obviously fond of Slayer, but touches of the Bay-Area can also be caught as well as the odd hardcore piece ("Pokvaren Do Srzi"). The end is in the form of "The End", which is excellent creepy technical thrash in mid-pace recalling Slayer's late-80's period with a twist.

Fire at Will Promo, 2009

PX-PAIN (SWITZERLAND)

Groovy thrash with crossover elements sounding like a mix between Machine Head and D.R.I; their second full-length effort is the better of the two, featuring more aggressive Pantera-sque riffs and semi-alternative sections, "accompanied" by clean vocals as opposed to the hardcore shouts which are the main ones.

Scene Of Crime EP, 1994
Plant Of Life EP, 1997
Marrow Full-length, 1998
Still Disgusted EP, 2000
Add Fuel To The Fire EP, 2002
Denying the consequences Full-length, 2005

PYGMALION (SWITZERLAND)

An alternative melodic brand of the 90's post-thrash with strong Helmet influences; the music picks more aggression here and there, but seldom reaches the angry aesthetics of Pantera opting instead for jumpy hectic riffs awkwardly interrupted by sprawling balladic sections which are well handled by the cool melodic singer.

Among Squabs Full-length, 1994

PYRACANDA (GERMANY)

"Two Sides Of A Coin" is a really good debut with its polished, but forceful heavy thrash sound calling to mind the Bay Area scene, with a twist. "Top Gun" opens it in an awesome energetic manner, a nice combination of galloping and faster riffs. "Democratic Terror" thrashes more aggressively, setting the tone for most of the remaining material. Near the end the guys slow down, for "Goodbye Mary Ann": a cool, but maybe a bit inappropriate power/heavy metal hymn, and the speed metal closer "Don't Get Infected", which moshes in the spirit of early Helloween.
"Thorns" also begins quite well with the heavy semi-technical "At The Abyss", but the very next "The Dragon's Cult" is much less impressive, sounding like pure classic heavy metal. "Shut Up" is faster, but the riffs are again too soft. Later the sound degenerates even further, reaching the bottom with the pop-metal stupidity "Soulstrip", after which I see quite a few of you out there turning their players off. Timid attempts at capturing lost ground are made with "Montezuma's Revenge", which is a more intense thrasher, slightly recalling the debut, and the technical, but slower closer "Thorns", which could have had a bigger appeal, if the rest was at least half as decent. Apparently not very happy with the final result, the band never bothered to record a follow-up.

Two Sides of A Coin Full-length, 1990
Thorns Full-length, 1992

PYROMANIAC (FINLAND)

Based on the "Retard/Asshole" demo, these Finns play an unpretentious mix of black metal and thrash/crossover. This is an uneven contrasting blend with very fast blasting moments alternating with much slower light-hearted ones the whole time, the latter bearing at least one good "fruit": the doomy epic "Round-Shaped Room"; and, of course, the interesting energetic cover of Manowar's greatest song "Thor The Powerhead" at the end, ruined by the rough raven-like black metal vocals. The guys take part in numerous other projects: the pagan black metal act Ancestors Blood; the pure old school black metal formation Black Blood; the thrash metal "monsters" G.O.R.E., etc.

Arson Demo, 2001
Pyromaniac / Vulture Split, 2002
Goatsemen Commando Demo, 2002
Bondage, Blood & Blasphemy Demo, 2004
Retard/Asshole Demo, 2007

PYROPHORIC (MEXICO)

Based on the "Accursed Oblivion" demo, these guys (or a guy since there is one person (Uriel Aguillon) listed as responsible for this act) play dark, gloomy thrash with an orchestral, gothic atmosphere and undeveloped progressive ambitions. The pace is mid with doomy "stops" along the way, the latter made more attractive by the brutal guttural singer.

Diabolizing The Priest Demo, 2009
Accursed Oblivion Demo, 2010

PYROTOXIC (FINLAND)

Based on the Split and the EP after it, this band offer excellent furious classic thrash in the best tradition of early Kreator and Necrodeath: check out the aggressive destructive "Nocturnal Violator", or "Recrucifixion". There is no mercy here, pure brutal thrashing pleasure, which finds milder forms later, but remains equally as compelling: the speed/thrashing delight "Cursed Midnight", or the jollier crossover-laced "The Secret Of Steel".

Flames of Armageddon Demo, 2007
Thrash Clash Volume 4 Split, 2008
Cursed Midnight EP, 2009

PYTHON (USA)

This nice EP strangely reminds me of the mighty Sabbat (UK). It has its unique, somewhat "pagan" aura at times, but there are songs which are straight thrashers with no gimmicks whatsoever. This is really good and hopefully these guys will be heard from again soon.

Good And Evil EP,2005

PYURIA (FINLAND)

Based on "Oubliette Ontolgy": aggressive thrash/death with a genuine technical edge, sounding like a mixture of Suffocation and Protector. The blast-beats decorate amost every song, but they are quickly replaced by really interesting technical decisions, so there is balance. On top of that the guys slow down with very heavy crushing riffs sometimes, bringing to mind Bolt Thrower: "Wound Opening, Part I"; the second part of this song is a lesson in perfectly executed technical thrash/death metal, quite fast as well. The furious nature of some parts of this album shouldn't scare you: this is very proficient stuff which would also please fans of Chemical Breath, the Canadians Martyr, Droys, Necrophagist.
"Calliphora Vomitoria Introitus" offers more conventional stuff; the guitars are not as technical, and the approach is more aggressive, with constant blast-beats which considerably ruin the impression created by the more stylish sections.

Baroquean Menuets For Oesophagus EP, 1999
Sublime Metrics Reallocation EP, 2003
Calliphora Vomitoria Introitus Full-length, 2004
Oubliette Ontolgy Full-length, 2007

PYOVELI (FINLAND)

Finland is quickly turning into the new motherland of thrash metal with new bands springing up almost every day. Based on the debut, this band offer quite good old school speed/thrash metal, as already suggested by the slightly self-boasting title, with a strong nod to the German metal scene of the 80's: Destruction, Exumer, Kreator, etc.
"Not A God, Just An Executioner" is a less serious offering, the band now bashing pretty wildly with a clear shade of hardcore, and even grind, reaching the intensity of early Cryptic Slaughter with ease for most of the time. The guitars, however, have a slight melodic edge, and the guys have included one bass-only instrumental ("Bonecrusher") to "crush" your "bones". Not many would be these who would be able to recognize the more intelligent delivery on the debut: even at their most laid-back ("Not A God, Just A Executioner") the guys sound like Slayer on steroids, and consequently like an almost entirely new act.

The New Renaissance Of Speed & Thrash Metal Full-length, 2005
Not A God, Just An Executioner Full-length, 2011

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