By Sean Palmerston
The first of a planned series of five seven-inches dedicated to the amalgamation of crusty punk and thrash metal, this installment features bands from opposite sides of the USA. Toxic Holocaust was at one time located in Boston, but main man Joel Grind has since relocated to Seattle. Bludwulf on the other hand are from New York, therefore representing the East on this cool spilt. With Toxic Holocaust recently signing to Relapse, this represents the band’s first recorded music for the label. “City Of A Million Graves” was recorded by Joel alone, accompanied by a drum machine. The synthesized drums give the song a bit of a clinical feel, which is too bad because the boy has lays down some wicked riffs on this one. I imagine it
sounds much better live. Bludwulf’s side offers two tracks by the band, both nice thrashers that lean more towards the punk side of thing than their counterparts on the flip. Timing seems to be an issue on both songs: the drumming is too fast for the other musicians and actually stops a few times on the second track “Necromancer.” The idea is there, they just need to get their timing down and the band will move from good to great. Collector scum note: this series is limited to 1000 pieces per 7”. I think this one may already be sold out from Relapse, but a quick Internet search finds some retailers still having it in stock.
http://www.myspace.com/toxicholocaust
(Relapse)
Originally published by METAL MANIACS.
Not to be republished without the permission of both the author and
METAL MANIACS
