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You might call this the "Reign In Blood" of PESTILENCE's catalogue. This is where they took the speed element that SLAYER had perfected and did their own thing with it, resulting in what has now become an essential Thrash-classic! The riffs are anti-melodic, sharp and fast, as PESTILENCE was so skilled at doing.
The production is the perfect balance of roughness and clarity, fitting the technical riffery like a glove. Each track is basically a Thrash Metal tour de force; fast and furious, with wild, chaotic leads that SLAYER had also become masters of, but PESTILENCE do it differently. Their lead-lines are much more wandering and altogether disturbing than the "millions-of-notes" soloing of King and Hanneman.
This would also be the last album with Martin van Drunen, who would leave for BOLT THROWER (I believe). His vocals are the epitome of brutal. Listen to the plunging-and-soaring riff-mutations on "Chronic Infection" and you'll hear where Thrash Metal's roots came from, with some of the best vocals ever growled in Death/Thrash Metal! "Out Of The Body" basically helps to write the book on classic Thrash-riffing. My only slight complaint: not much variation between most songs, each is basically hack & slash all the way through.
No one ever did it like PESTILENCE. This is just one of those albums that you NEED to own, my dear Metalhead...
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